Islamic banks outperform conventional peers

The Islamic banks in Qatar outpaced conventional banks in the country in terms of growth in net profit during the second quarter of 2014 (Q2,14). Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) reported a 15.0 percent YoY bottom-line growth in Q2 14, mainly due to improvement in top-line as well as fee income. Masraf Al Rayan reported 12.1 percent YoY growth in its bottom-line due to strong growth in net financing income, Global Investment House (GIH) noted in its Q2, 14 “GCC Banking Sector” analysis. The GIH analysts who covered five major Qatar-based banks said the loan books of banks in Qatar grew the most in the region, by registering 15.4 percent growth on year-on-year basis, followed by the banks in Saudi Arabia (9 percent), UAE (4.8 percent) and Kuwait (4.6 percent).