Emirates Islamic Bank, a top Islamic financial institution, posted operating profits of Dh138 million ($37.5 million) for the first quarter of 2012, marking a 56 per cent growth as well as its highest operating profit in the last two years.

Total net income rose to Dh228 million for the first quarter, a 21 per cent increase from the same period one year ago. Likewise, customer accounts grew by 5 per cent during the first quarter of 2012, while assets grew by 13 per cent from year-end, 2011.

“The first-quarter results represent an extremely positive start to the year for us and we believe are a strong indicator for the remainder,” said Jamal Bin Ghalaita, chief executive officer, Emirates Islamic Bank.

“These results have proven to be a key milestone on our growth journey. They reflect decisive measures taken in Q4 of last year, which have enabled us to emerge stronger and more profitable, carrying us into the second quarter in great shape.”

\Following its change of Board and management in October 2011, Emirates Islamic Bank has embarked on an aggressive three-year growth strategy, which has started to pay off.

The improved operating income of the Islamic finance provider has allowed it to enjoy healthy Q1 net profits of Dh17 million, after conservatively providing for all doubtful accounts. This again marks a key milestone for the bank, when compared to the losses of Dh20 million suffered in the same period last year, mainly due to credit provisioning.

Emirates Islamic Bank continues to enjoy a healthy capital adequacy ratio of 18 per cent, with cost-to-income ratio greatly improving to 40 per cent, it said in a statement. – TradeArabia News Service