Emirates Islamic records Dh137m profit in 1H

DUBAI: Emirates Islamic on Tuesday declared a Dh137 million net profit for the first six months of 2016 and the bank said its second quarter net profit jumped by more than 100 per cent to Dh92 million.

Total income of the bank grew by 11 per cent to Dh1.23 billion compared to the total income for the same period last year. Total assets at Dh57.2 billion, up 8 per cent from end 2015. Customer deposits also increased by 6.2 per cent to Dh41.8 billion from end 2015. The bank said its credit quality improved as the impaired financing ratio strengthened from 8.8 per cent to 8.5 per cent and coverage ratio advanced from 89.5 per cent to 90.7 per cent. Hesham Abdulla Al Qassim, chairman of Emirates Islamic, vice chairman and managing director of Emirates NBD, said: "We are extremely pleased with our strong growth and performance that underlines the growing relevance of Islamic banking in current times".

Al Qassim added: "With the launch of our recent record breaking Sukuk that was oversubscribed by three times the nominal amount, it is evident that there is a large appetite for Shari'a compliant financing in the region and as the fastest growing bank in the UAE, we are confident that we will continue to make strides and set new benchmarks for the Islamic and overall banking sector and make our contribution to the government's goal of making Dubai the world capital of Islamic economy."