Noor Bank, the Dubai-based Sharia-compliant lender formerly known as Noor Islamic Bank, said its first quarter profit rose to a record as it rolled out a number of new products to meet increasing demand for Islamic financial instruments.
Net income rose to Dh85 million from Dh31 mln in the same period the previous year, the bank said. Return on equity improved to 14 per cent while its total assets grew 9 per cent to Dh25.2 billion from Dh23.2bn at the start of the year. Total customer financing increased 14 per cent to Dh16.3bn while customer deposits grew 11 per cent to Dh20.7bn, it said.
“Our solid first quarter results demonstrate the consistency of our earnings momentum driven by the business strategies which we implemented last year” said Hussain Al Qemzi, the chief executive of Noor Bank. “As we move through 2014, I remain optimistic about the opportunities ahead for both Noor Bank and the UAE, and believe the franchise is well capitalised and positioned for balanced and sustainable growth.”
As part of its innovation strategy, Noor Bank said it had successfully processed online commodity murabaha financing transactions for one of its large small and medium sized enterprise clients on the so-called Tradeflow platform at the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre. The platform, among other things, allows for greater Sharia compliance, it said.
mkassem@thenational.ae
Follow us on Twitter @Ind_Insights
