Islamic finance assets in Qatar amounted to QR528bn in 2020, 86% out of which were Islamic bank assets, noted QCB Governor HE Sheikh Abdulla bin Saoud al-Thani.
“Islamic finance in Qatar is witnessing a continuous development through policies and regulations that are being updated to ensure its continued competitiveness at both regional and international levels”, said Sheikh Abdullah said in his introductory remarks in Bait Al-Mashura Finance Consultation’s report on Islamic finance in Qatar 2020.
“Upon successfully completing Dukhan Bank merger, Masraf Al Rayan recently sought another merger with Khaleeji Commercial Bank to boost the strength of Qatari Islamic banks worldwide. Such a new banking entity is expected to be the fifth largest Islamic bank in the world with assets amounting to $47bnn US dollars.”
Sheikh Abdulla said, “In 2020, the global economy as well as the financial and banking sector have gone through an unprecedented crisis due to Covid-19 implications and repercussions. These events posed a new challenge to the financial and banking system in Qatar.
“Thanks to the measures that focused on ensuring business continuity, supporting liquidity and providing support to affected sectors, we managed to mitigate the implications of this shock, maintain credit flow to economic sectors, and achieve financial and banking stability in the country.”
“During this crisis, banks witnessed pressures on their systems and budgets through the required harmonisation between continued credit granting, asset reclassification and provisions for credit losses. Banks in Qatar continued to apply the accounting standard for calculating provision for expected credit losses, and to update the structures of scenarios used to determine credit losses in a more conservative view. Nevertheless, the results of banking sector came good, as banks maintained their asset quality standards and credit grew at 8.6%.”
The QCB Governor said, “Financial technology is no longer an option, but an urgent necessity the adoption of which applications should be accelerated. This crisis also revealed to us the Qatari banking sector’s ability to quickly adapt to these changes by adopting technological solutions according to the best technical standards and protectionist and supervisory controls. Banks and other financial institutions managed to smoothly and safely provide their services through their applications.
“During this year, we launched many central financial technology systems, including the Qatar Mobile Payment System (QMP), to continue developing the financial and banking environment in Qatar in order to achieve the National Vision 2030.”
Prof Dr Khaled bin Ibrahim al-Sulaiti, vice-chairman, Board of Directors, Bait Al-Mashura Finance Consultations, said, “Islamic finance sector has shown flexibility and solidity in facing Covid-19 repercussions in light of the sector’s great digital transformation, which provides new opportunities for growth”.
“The report on Islamic finance in Qatar for 2020 issued by Bait Al-Mashura Finance Consultations reviews the performance of Islamic finance institutions in Qatar, including Islamic banks, Takaful insurance companies, and Islamic finance and investment companies. It also reviews Islamic financial products, including investment funds, Sukuk and movement of Islamic financial market.
“We have taken upon ourselves at Bait Al Mashura to strive to continuously improve and develop our products, in order to provide the best and highest quality service to the Islamic financial industry and the community inside and outside Qatar. As we present this effort, we invite researchers, specialists and pioneers of Islamic finance to intensify efforts to upgrade the Islamic finance industry through their research efforts and creative ideas that believe in the authenticity of Islamic economy and its role in leading the financial industry and overcoming crises”, he continued.
According to the report, assets of Qatar’s Islamic banks grew in by 8.4%, and deposits grew by 8.7% in 2020, with the private sector’s deposits accounting for 56%.
Non-resident deposits returned and exceeded pre-crisis rates of 2017. Financing grew by 7.9%, concentrated in government, semi-government, real estate and personal finance sectors. Although revenues grew by 3.4%, profits decreased 2.6%, affected by the increased provisions for expected credit losses. Such profits amounted to QR6.7bn in 2020 compared to QR6.9bn in 2019.
