Fitch assigns A+ rating to Emirates Islamic

Tuesday 29 September 2015
Jamal Bin Ghalaita, CEO, Emirates Islamic

Dubai - MENA Herald: Emirates Islamic, one of the leading Islamic financial institutions in the UAE, has received an ‘A+’ rating by Fitch, the New York and London-headquartered global ratings agency.

Fitch has assigned Emirates Islamic a long term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of ‘A+’ with a Stable Outlook, short-term IDR of 'F1', and a Viability Rating (VR) at 'bb-'. The rating agency has affirmed the bank’s support rating of '1'. This rating places Emirates Islamic among the highest ranked banks in the UAE and is a key milestone on the bank’s road to growth and success.

Commenting on the rating, Jamal Bin Ghalaita, CEO, Emirates Islamic stated, “The rating confirms Emirates Islamic as a systemically important bank to the UAE economy. Today, we are proud to be recognized as a key contributor to growth not only in the Islamic banking sector but the overall banking sector in the UAE. The bank has experienced unprecedented growth over the last few years with strong top-line performance, following our transformation journey. Driven by a solid management team, we are poised to continue our growth trajectory and support Dubai in its aim of becoming the global capital of Islamic economy.”

Emirates Islamic is one of the fastest growing banks in the UAE with exceptional performance for three years running. The bank posted a net profit of AED 447 million for the first half of 2015, an increase of 97 per cent over the same period last year. The bank has also continued strengthening its balance sheet, maintaining a solid liquidity position with a financing to deposit ratio of 95 per cent. The bank’s healthy position can be further evidenced as non-performing financing receivables are at a record low of 7.6 per cent and has improved its coverage ratio to 106 per cent.

The bank’s success continues to be recognised across the industry, having recently been named the ‘Best Islamic Bank in the UAE’ by World Finance magazine for the second time in three years and also winning ‘Best Savings Account’ and ‘Best New SME product’ at the prestigious Banker Middle East Product Awards 2015. CEO Jamal Bin Ghalaita was recently ranked amongst the top 20 CEOs in the GCC and was also recognised as the ‘Best CEO for Emiratisation’ in the Banking and Financial sector for 2015 by the Emirates Institute for Banking and Financial Studies. In addition, the bank’s Nasdaq Dubai Murabaha platform won the prestigious Euromoney Award for Innovation in Islamic Finance 2015.

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