QFB bags award for ‘Best Up-and-Coming Islamic Financial Institution’

Qatar First Bank (QFB), a leading Shariah-compliant bank based in Qatar and listed on the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE), participated at the annual meetings of each of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Institute of International Finance (IIF) in Washington, DC.Headed by the bank’s chief business officer Sulaiman Yousif al-Salhi, QFB also took part in several meetings and events organised on the sidelines of the conferences, including holding bilateral meetings with banks from different countries for relationship and business developments. On attending the conference and representing QFB at the IMF and IIF meetings, al-Salhi said, “Since its launch in 2015, QFB’s strategy has focused on the bank’s role as a trusted adviser for investors who wish to tap into lucrative investment opportunities in and outside of Qatar, and benefit from the innovative, Shariah-compliant financial solutions that we offer in local, regional and global markets.”  “We are at the beginning of a new era for our bank, reinforced by listing QFB’s shares on the Qatar Stock Exchange last April, and have already started reaping the benefits of our ambitious strategy, as each area of the bank performed well, bringing growth and new recurring income. This reaffirms that QFB is on the right path, as it continues to identify and seize new, attractive opportunities, deliver excellence for both private and corporate clients, build a strong brand, and provide shareholders with robust returns.” At the IMF meeting, QFB had been exclusively named 2016’s ‘Best Up-and-Coming Islamic Financial Institution’ in Global Finance magazine’s ninth annual awards for the World’s Best Islamic Financial Institutions. QFB won the award after Global Finance had extensive consultations with bankers, corporate finance executives and analysts throughout the world. In selecting the world’s top Islamic financial institutions, Global Finance considered a wide range of quantitative factors including growth in assets, profitability, geographic reach, strategic relationships, new business development and product innovations, as well as informed subjective criteria such as reputation, customer satisfaction, and the opinions of analysts and industry experts, QFB said.  On the achievement, Ziad Makkawi, QFB chief executive officer said, “The Shariah-compliant finance space has made great progress over the past decade and much remains to be done. We at QFB are proud to be making a contribution to this effort and honoured to be recognised by the prestigious Global Finance at the IMF and IIF meetings. Our participation in these meetings reflects our current status as a listed entity on the Qatar Stock Exchange.”