Qatar Islamic Bank Q3 net profit ups 10.9%

Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), the Gulf state’s largest sharia-compliant lender by assets, reported a 10.9 percent jump in third-quarter net profit on Wednesday, in line with analysts’ forecasts, according to Reuters calculations.

It made a net profit of 610.1 million riyals ($167.6 million) during the three months to June 30, compared with 550.1 million riyals in the same period a year earlier, Reuters calculated from nine-month financial statements in the absence of a quarterly earnings breakdown. Three analysts polled by Reuters had forecast on average the bank to make a quarterly net profit of 606.9 million riyals.

It is the fourth Qatari bank to report earnings for the period, the first full financial quarter since a diplomatic rift erupted in June between Qatar and Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt.

Earlier on Wednesday, Commercial Bank of Qatar said it swung to a third-quarter net profit, while Qatar National Bank , the Gulf’s largest bank, and Masraf Al Rayan have both reported earnings in the mid single digits. One of the main ways the row has affected banks is by an outflow of deposits from the other four countries.

One of the Qatari banks most reliant on funding from the rest of the Gulf, QIB was hit by a 6.9 billion riyals deposit outflow in the second quarter from the previous period. But during the third quarter, QIB’s deposits reached 98.66 billion riyals, up by 1.7 percent from the previous period. Source: Reuters