KARACHI: The assets of Islamic Banking Industry (IBI) increased by Rs 120 billion during the first quarter (January to March) of this calendar year.
Assets of IBI were registered at Rs 4.389 trillion at the end of the first quarter of CY21, compared to Rs 4.269 trillion in the previous quarter (Oct-Dec of CY20). This growth in assets was mainly contributed by investments (net) that reflected a quarterly growth of Rs 84 billion. The market share of Islamic Banking Industry’s assets in the overall banking industry was recorded at 17.0 percent by end March, 2021.
According to Islamic Banking Bulletin issued by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Friday, the deposits of IBI also experienced a quarterly growth of Rs 68 billion during the period under review. The deposit base of IBI stood at Rs 3.457 trillion by end March, 2021 up from Rs 3.389 trillion in December 2020. Market share of IBI’s deposits in overall banking deposits increased to 18.7 percent by end March, 2021 compared to 18.3 percent in the previous quarter.
Assets and deposits of IBI achieved year-on- year growth of 30.6 percent and 28.4 percent, respectively.
Bifurcation of assets among IBs and IBBs reveals that assets of IBs recorded a quarterly growth of Rs 44 billion during the review quarter to reach Rs 2,544 billion. On the other hand, assets of IBBs witnessed growth of Rs 75 billion and their assets increased to Rs 1,845 billion by end March, 2021. In terms of share in overall assets of IBI, IBs and IBBs accounted for 58 percent and 42 percent share, respectively.
The share of IBs and IBBs in overall deposits of IBI stood at 58.9 percent and 41.1 percent, respectively by end March, 2021. The category wise breakup of deposits shows that saving deposits and current deposits increased by Rs 44 billion and Rs 40 billion, respectively; while fixed deposits witnessed a decline of Rs 37 billion during the period under review.
Investments (net) of IBI registered an increase of Rs 84 billion during the period under review and stood at Rs 1,345 billion by end March, 2021. This increase in investments (net) can be mainly attributed to investments made by IBI in Government of Pakistan (GoP) domestic Ijarah Sukuk. It is worth mentioning here that GoP issued two domestic Ijarah Sukuk of Rs 75 billion (approximately) during the period under review.
The composition of Islamic banking industry remained same with 22 Islamic Banking Institutions (IBIs) comprising of 5 full-fledged Islamic Banks (IBs) and 17 Conventional Banks having standalone Islamic Banking Branches (IBBs) by end March, 2021.
During the period under review, 48 branches were added in branch network of IBI; as a result, the branch network of IBI increased to 3,504 branches (spread across 124 districts of the country) by end March, 2021. Figure 1 depicts region wise concentration of branches in Punjab, followed by Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK).
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021