Mubasher: Assets of Islamic banks operating in Qatar represented about 24.9% or QAR 349.35 billion from total bank assets of QAR 1.398.01 billion by the end of July, according to the Qatar Central Bank's (QCB) data.

Five sharia-compliant lenders are operating in the gas-rich nation, namely: Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), Qatar International Islamic Bank (QIIB), Masraf Al Rayan, Barwa Bank, and Qatar First Bank (QFB).

Over the previous period, Barwa Bank and QIIB have signed their merger deal, creating a sharia-compliant lender with QAR 80 billion assets, making up 22.9% of total assets of Qatar's Islamic banks.

Reserves of Islamic banks in the GCC country comprised of QAR 12.07 billion balances in the central bank, and QAR 1.69 billion liquidity.

Deposits of Islamic banks amounted to QAR 213.98 billion by the end of July, accounting for 26.30% from total bank deposits of QAR 813.50 billion