Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) has announced the recognition of QIB Group CEO Bassel Gamal 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”.
The recognition follows QIB’s outstanding response to the Covid-19 pandemic delivered through the guidance of QIB’s board of directors and Gamal’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, the bank said.
Attended by top executives and senior bankers from across Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, Gamal received the two prestigious awards via a virtual awards ceremony held recently. 
During the ceremony, Gamal 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.
Gamal said, “I am honoured to receive those awards 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 fulfil all their banking needs safely and remotely.  
During this last period, Gamal said QIB has further accelerated the introduction of new digital products and services to its mobile and online platforms. The bank has 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 centre to ensure that we are able to meet the needs of our customers under any circumstances,” he said.
He added: “We have extended support to our corporate and individual customers in this time of financial uncertainty by deferring financial instalments for the sectors most hit by the crisis, in line with the governmental and the 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 nationwide 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.”
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 and 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 Programme.
QIB recently announced that net profit attributable to the shareholders of the bank amounted to QR2.21bn for the nine-month period ended September 2020, in line with the performance during the same period in 2019. Total assets of the bank now stand at QR170bn, higher by 4% compared to December 2019 with a growth of 9.8% compared to September 2019.

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