18 October 2020, Doha, Qatar:  Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) is pleased to announce the recognition of Mr. Bassel Gamal, QIB’s Group Chief Executive Officer, as the winner of the “Best Bank CEO Response to COVID-19 in Qatar” award by The Asian Banker Leadership Achievement Awards 2020. QIB was also named the “Best Managed Bank during COVID-19 in Qatar”. 

This top recognition is following QIB’s outstanding response to the COVID-19 pandemic delivered through the guidance of QIB’s Board of Directors and Mr. Bassel’s leadership in navigating the Bank to deliver the safest, most trusted, and effective banking services to both retail and corporate customers since March 2020.

Attended by top executives and senior bankers from across Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, Mr. Bassel Gamal received the two prestigious awards via a virtual awards ceremony held on Thursday 15 October 2020. During the ceremony, Mr. Bassel spoke about QIB’s vision and successful approach to handling the challenges related to the pandemic, and discussed the steps and measures QIB has taken to guarantee the safety of its employees and customers, while continuing to offer the best banking experience to all its customers.

Commenting on winning the two prestigious awards, Mr. Bassel Gamal, QIB’s Group CEO said: “I am honored to receive those awards today on behalf of QIB’s Board of Directors and all my colleagues. From the outbreak of the pandemic, the safety of both our employees and customers was and still is our absolute number one priority. Within the framework of our business continuity plans and thanks to our recent investments in digital transformation, we have succeeded to impeccably continue offering the fastest, safest and most convenient banking services to all our retail and corporate customers, allowing them to fulfill all their banking needs safely and remotely.  During this last period, we have further accelerated the introduction of new digital products and services to our mobile and online platforms. We have added more features that allow retail and corporate customers to manage holistically their accounts and relationship with the Bank. We have also introduced new functionality to allow previously “unbanked” segments of the society, such as Domestic Workers, to open a bank account digitally and fulfil all their banking needs, such as fast remittances and payments through the mobile app.  We have also increased the capabilities of our Call Center to ensure that we are able to meet the needs of our customers under any circumstances.”

“We have extended support to our corporate and individual customers in this time of financial uncertainty by deferring financial installments for the sectors most hit by the crisis, in line with the governmental and Qatar Central Bank’s directives, and we are actively participating in the Covid-19 response programs initiated by the government and the Qatar Central Bank. These two awards are also a recognition of QIB’s contribution to the nation-wide efforts led by the Supreme Committee for Crisis Management, the Ministry of Public Health and other entities that continue to play a key role in keeping the community safe. We are sincerely thankful to all of them for their great efforts.” Mr. Bassel added.

QIB was able to implement a comprehensive “Bank Safely from Home” campaign at the onset of the pandemic, which saw an unprecedented increase in reliance on digital channels by QIB existing and new customers. Relying on its advanced digital channels, QIB was able to ensure business continuity and offer all its banking products & services to retail and corporate customers while only 20% of its branches remained open and less than 20% of its employees were working from their offices between April and June 2020. The Bank took a proactive response to the economic implications of the pandemic especially on SMEs, immediately postponing financial instalments for SMEs and then taking part in the Covid-19 National Response Guarantee Program. 

QIB has recently announced the results for the nine months’ period ended 30 September 2020. Net Profit attributable to the Shareholders of the Bank amounted to QAR 2,216.5 Million for the nine months’ period ended September 2020 in line with the performance during the same period in 2019. Total Assets of the Bank now stands at QAR 170 Billion higher by 4% compared to December 2019 with a growth of 9.8% compared to September 2019 driven by the continued growth in the financing and investing activities. Financing activities have now reached QAR 113.2 Billion having grown by 5.7% compared to September 2019. Customer Deposits of the Bank now stand at QAR 112 Billion higher by 5% compared to September 2019.

The Asian Banker Leadership Achievement Awards are widely acknowledged by the financial services industry as the highest possible accolade available to professionals in the industry in the Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa regions. The selection of winners took into account the performance of the institutions, the assessment of leadership that CEOs and chairmen exhibited in response to the pandemic, in addition to peer reviewing based on feedback from industry experts as well as a poll of customers on banks’ responses to COVID-19 through The Asian Banker’s online survey platform.