Emirates Islamic Bank, one of the leading Islamic financial institutions in the region, announced that its operating profits rose to Dhs138m at the close of the first quarter of 2012. This is a 56% and 68% growth over Q1 and Q4 2011, respectively. The results see Emirates Islamic Bank deliver its highest operating profit for the past two years. Total net income rose to Dhs228m for Q1 2012, a 21% increase from the same period one year ago. Likewise, customer accounts grew by 5% during the first quarter of 2012, while assets grew by 13% 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 Dhs17m, after conservatively providing for all doubtful accounts. This again marks a key milestone for the bank, when compared to the losses of 20 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%, with cost-to-income ratio greatly improving to 40%. As of March 31, 2012, Emirates Islamic Bank's branch network totaled 33 with a combined ATM and CDM network of 106. Press Release
