Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB), the United Arab Emirates\u2019 largest Sharia-compliant lender, posted a 26 percent increase in third-quarter net profit on Wednesday as higher income from Islamic financing and investing offset a rise in impairment charges.
\nThe bank made Dh1.11 billion (SR1.13 million) in the three months to September 30, it said in a statement. This compares with a profit of Dh876.3 million in the corresponding period of 2016.
\nEFG Hermes forecast the bank would make a quarterly profit of Dh1.02 billion.
\nEarnings were lifted by a 21 percent rise in net income from Islamic financing and investing transactions and an 8 percent jump in income from fees, commissions and foreign exchange. That helped offset a more than doubling of impairment charges.
\nDIB\u2019s earnings growth has been ahead of most of its local rivals in many of the recent quarters, despite a relatively tepid economic environment.
\n\u201cWith the solidity and resilience displayed by UAE\u2019s financial market, credit growth is expected to more than double to 5 percent in 2018,\u201d said Mohammed Ibrahim Al-Shaibani, DIB\u2019s chairman, referring to average credit growth for the UAE banking industry.
\nDIB is targeting loan expansion in 2017 of between 10 to 15 percent, DIB Chief Executive Adnan Chilwan said in January, compared with actual 2016 loan growth of 18 percent.<\/p>\n