Digital banking key driver in QIIB achieving best cost efficiency: Al-Shaibei

QIIB’s huge success in achieving cost efficiency has been driven mostly by the bank’s transformation to digital banking, says chief executive officer, Dr Abdulbasit Ahmed al-Shaibei.“Last year, we achieved one of the best cost efficiency ratios in the banking sector, both local and international,” al-Shaibei said in an interview with Gulf Times.QIIB’s financial statement shows that the bank improved its operational efficiency (cost-to-return) to 18.8% in 2021.“This shows a very high level of competence in managing expenses and revenue, controlling expenditure, while simultaneously maintaining a steady growth curve for all of the bank’s key financial indicators,” al-Shaibei noted.Highlighting the importance of digital banking, the CEO said QIIB’s Mobile App provides “almost 100%” of retail service now. “We have excellent feedback from our customers. Our young customers always demand latest technology. We are meeting their demands. At the same time, there is another segment of our customers who prefer to do transactions at our branches. We are catering to their needs as well,” al-Shaibei said.“However, with digital transformation comes big challenges,” he noted.“As we go digital, cashless, it becomes absolutely important to ensure that all measures of cybersecurity are in place, to protect our customer data and privacy. We are on the guard, round-the-clock. And we have invested heavily in cybersecurity; in the best products to ensure that cyber criminals are kept at bay,” al-Shaibei said.“While we are doing our part, we also want our customers to be ever alert. We repeatedly caution our customers against landing private data in the wrong hands.”Al-Shaibei said although 2021 was “generally a good year for Qatari banks”, challenges still remain. This is reflected on the non-performing assets of banks. “Challenges presented by Covid-19 are still ahead of us. We have inherited these into 2022 as well. But the positive development is that we are mostly immune to those challenges. Also, the pandemic-induced challenges forced us to embrace digitalisation in a big way. “It has been an incredible transformation as banks have moved nearly all their interactions with customers to digital. Obviously, the pandemic has created the environment to demonstrate what is possible in digital banking.”Al-Shaibei said QIIB would continue to focus on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). “We will continue to care for SMEs and MSMEs, reinforcing our firm belief in the importance of supporting entrepreneurs in all their business endeavours. SMEs and MSMEs contribute greatly to the nation’s economy, and represent future, which we must do our best to invest in,” al-Shaibei noted.He said global credit rating agencies such as Moody’s and Fitch have continued to endorse QIIB’s accomplishments and are optimistic about the bank’s future.Moody’s and Fitch gave the bank the rating of ‘A2’ and ‘A’ respectively, with a stable outlook.“Credit agencies affirmed that QIIB is one of the leading Islamic financial institutions in Qatar, generating decent profit margins, handling high quality assets, enjoying a high level of liquidity and capital adequacy,” al-Shaibei said.The QIIB chief executive officer said he remains “optimistic” about 2022. “This year, we will be hosting FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, a great global sporting event. But Qatar has many projects lined up beyond this year. I expect QatarEnergy to award many projects in relation to its North Field expansion. We will be ready to support our nation’s development projects.“Oil prices are currently high and if there are no further surprises or challenges like Covid-19, we should be fine,” al-Shaibei said.In 2021, QIIB’s net profit topped QR1bn for the first time in its history. The bank’s board of directors proposed the distribution of a cash dividend to shareholders of QR0.375 per share (37.5% of the nominal share value), subject to the approval of its 2021 financial statements by the Qatar Central Bank and the bank’s AGM.By end-2021, QIIB’s total revenue reached QR2.46bn, the bank’s total assets reached QR61.8bn and its financing assets stabilised at at QR37.03bn. Customer deposits have also increased to QR38.65bn, representing a growth rate of 6.3%.