Association of Islamic Banking Institutions Malaysia

QNB, the country’s largest lender, will see its Islamic banking division grow internationally this year. “2010 will witness an expansion in QNB Al Islami international activities with the establishment of new overseas branches alongwith offering of new services,” said QNB chairman and Finance Minister HE Yousef Hussein Kamal while addressing the annual general assembly, which approved the 70% total dividend.

The bank, whose net profit had risen by 15% to QR4.2bn in 2009, approved the 40% cash bonus and 30% stock dividend to shareholders.

The general assembly also elected five members (of the seven nominees) from the private sector for the board for a three-year term. 

The newly-elected members are Sheikh Jassem bin Abdulaziz bin Jassem bin Hamad al-Thani; Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Thani; Ali Hussain Ali al-Sada; Bader Abdullah Darwish Fakhro and Fahad Mohamed Fahad Buzwair.

QNB Al Islami recorded strong growth in activities, resulting in an increased market share. Its domestic network has 11 branches and in February last year, it opened the first international branch in Khartoum, Sudan, where its focus has been on bridging the gap in that country’s transactional banking and trade financing segment.

“We look forward to increasing our presence in the Middle East and North Africa region over the coming years,” QNB CEO Ali Shareef al-Emadi said in the board of directors’ report.

Acknowledging that 2010 would be a challenging year, he said “we are confident that our increased capabilities and resources will allow us to successfully implement our strategic goals” (domestically and internationally).

The bank would continue to adopt a conservative approach in implementing the expansion plans to safeguard the high quality of the loan portfolio through an effective risk management process, according to al-Emadi.

The general assembly of shareholders also approved retaining KPMG as the external auditor for this year.

 

Gulf Times