Islamic Banking’s assets grow by 2.8% in Jan-Mar

ISLAMABAD, Jun 11 (APP):Assets of Islamic banking industry increased by 2.8 percent during the quarter January to March, 2018 and were recorded at Rs 2,334 billion, compared to Rs 2,272 billion in the previous quarter.
According to data released by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) the financing recorded growth of 6.4 percent (Rs.77 billion) during the period under review whereas market share of Islamic banking industry’s assets in overall banking industry’s assets increased by 1.1 percent during the period under review and was recorded at 13.5 percent by end March, 2018 compared to 12.4 percent in the previous quarter.
The share of net financing and investments in total assets (net) of Islamic banking industry stood at 54.9 percent and 22.7 percent, respectively by end March, 2018.
Bifurcation of assets among full-fledged Islamic banks and Islamic banking branches of conventional banks shows that assets of full-fledged Islamic banks recorded a quarterly growth of 0.5 percent
(Rs. 7 billion) during the review quarter to reach Rs 1,359 billion.
On the other hand, assets of Islamic banking branches of conventional banks reflected relatively better quarterly growth of 6.1 percent (Rs 55 billion) compared to full-fledged Islamic banks and their assets base was recorded at Rs 975 billion by end March 31, 2018.
In terms of share in overall assets of Islamic banking industry, full-fledged Islamic banks and Islamic banking branches of conventional banks accounted for 58.2 percent and 41.8 percent share, respectively by end March, 2018.
Investments (net) of Islamic banking however recorded a decline of 0.9 percent (Rs. 5 billion) during the period under review and stood at Rs 529 billion by end March, 2018.
The review of last three quarters shows that investments (net) of Islamic banking industry have not shown any significant change and almost remained at same level.
The network of Islamic banking industry consisted of 21 Islamic banking institutions; 5 full-fledged Islamic banks and 16 conventional banks having standalone Islamic banking branches by end March, 2018.
Similarly, branch network of Islamic banking industry stood at 2,589 (spread across 111 districts) by end March, 2018.
The number of Islamic banking windows operated by conventional banks having standalone Islamic banking branches was recorded at 1,283, the data revealed.
The data further revealed that profit before tax of Islamic banking industry was recorded at
Rs 7 billion by end March, 2018 compared to Rs 5 billion in the same quarter last year.
Profitability ratios like return on assets and return on equity (before tax) stood at 1.1 percent and 18.4 percent, respectively by end March, 2018.
Operating expense to gross income ratio continued the declining trend; however, this ratio is still higher than that of overall banking industry’s average.