Qatar First Bank, a leading Islamic bank in the country, said its revenue for the third quarter hit QR491 million ($135 million), up 39 per cent over the same period in 2015 besides a net profit of QR3.4 million for the third quarter.

Ziad Makkawi, the chief executive officer, QFB said as the global investment market continues to go through major challenges, QFB was able to record solid revenues and net profit.

"We envision that the global economic backdrop will remain challenging for the remainder of this year; however, we will continue to push ahead to develop innovative financial solutions and source attractive investment opportunities for our individual and institutional clients," he noted.

Since the beginning of 2016, QFB has been witnessing solid achievements marked by listing the bank’s shares on the Qatar Stock exchange, following the approval of the Qatar Financial Markets Authority (QFMA).

Following this significant milestone, QFB announced the development of an innovative open architecture Private Banking platform offering shareholders and clients the opportunity to select from a wide range of investment opportunities and innovative financial solutions to grow, manage and protect their wealth and assets.  

"We are transforming from being an investment focused to an investor focused entity. This is being reflected in the continued development of our Shari’ah compliant offering across all business lines. The development of our pioneering open architecture platform, backed by a talented and highly experienced team, will meet the individual changing needs of our clients," stated Makkawi.

Leveraging the in-house and international breadth of investment solutions and structuring capabilities, QFB announced the placement of the ‘Ijarah Aviation Structured Product’ that was met with great enthusiasm by individual and institutional clients.
The Shari’ah compliant product offered an investment in a relatively stable sector providing an annual cash return of nine per cent to be paid to clients on quarterly basis.

"We have seen an overwhelming response from the market. Our Ijarah product is one of a series of innovative Shari’ah compliant structured solutions that we will be bringing to the market, and it demonstrates the bank’s strong capabilities and commitment to meeting individual and corporate clients’ needs," said Makkawi.

Despite regional financial markets continuing to operate at restrained levels, all of the Bank’s revenue-generating business lines have positioned themselves to capture new business and solidify relationships with existing clients, he stated.

On the Alternative Investments front, QFB’s current investment portfolio is performing well, he added.-TradeArabia News Service