The Big Numbers Race: Emirates Islamic, Dukhan Bank renew battle for Arab world’s Islamic top 10

Emirates Islamic Bank has reshaped the competitive landscape with Dukhan Bank in recent years, as faster growth enabled the UAE lender to overtake its Qatari rival while also outperforming it on profitability and return indicators.

According to June 2026 data, Emirates Islamic ranks 10th among Islamic banks in the Arab world by total assets, while Dukhan Bank ranks 11th.

Based on the two banks’ consolidated financial statements, Emirates Islamic’s total assets reached about USD 41.88 billion at end-June 2026, compared with USD 35.46 billion for Dukhan Bank, reflecting the UAE bank’s larger scale of operations and balance sheet.

The advantage extended to deposits, with Emirates Islamic reporting USD 30.11 billion at end-June 2026, compared with USD 25.79 billion at Dukhan Bank, reflecting its greater capacity to attract liquidity and expand the funding base supporting business growth.

In financing activity, Emirates Islamic’s net customer financing reached USD 26.39 billion at end-June 2026, compared with USD 26 billion at Dukhan Bank, leaving the UAE bank slightly ahead in loans alongside its broader funding base.

The competitive shift becomes clearer when tracking the two banks’ performance from end-2022 to June 2026. Emirates Islamic recorded total asset growth of 105.7 per cent over the period, compared with 21.4 per cent at Dukhan Bank.

The wide difference in growth rates changed the balance of competition between the two banks, with Emirates Islamic overtaking its Qatari rival at end-2025 and widening the asset gap to USD 6.43 billion by end-June 2026.

Deposits at Emirates Islamic grew 96.2 per cent over the same period, compared with 25.9 per cent at Dukhan Bank. This also enabled the UAE bank to overtake its rival at end-2025, with the gap widening to USD 4.32 billion at end-June 2026.

This indicates that Emirates Islamic’s advance was not driven by asset expansion alone, but was accompanied by strong deposit growth, strengthening the funding base available to support further expansion.

A similar pattern emerged in financing activity, as Emirates Islamic recorded 100.3 per cent growth in net customer financing over the same period, compared with 25 per cent at Dukhan Bank, allowing it to overtake its rival at end-2025 before widening the gap to about USD 392.58 million at end-June 2026.

This reflects growth moving from the funding side to asset deployment, with the bank converting the expansion in its funding base into tangible growth in financing activity.

The stronger operating performance was also reflected in profitability. Emirates Islamic reported net profit of USD 466.73 million in H1 2026, compared with USD 223.07 million at Dukhan Bank, extending its advantage from scale and growth indicators to profit generation.

Emirates Islamic also held an advantage in asset utilisation efficiency, recording return on average assets (ROAA) of 2.29 per cent in H1 2026, compared with 1.29 per cent at Dukhan Bank, reflecting higher efficiency in generating returns from its asset base.

Return on average equity (ROAE) at Emirates Islamic reached 20.10 per cent, compared with 10.58 per cent at Dukhan Bank in H1 2026, indicating that the gap extends beyond business scale to the bank’s ability to generate higher returns for shareholders.

On the capital side, Emirates Islamic’s capital stood at USD 1.48 billion at end-June 2026, compared with USD 1.44 billion at Dukhan Bank, supporting the UAE bank’s capacity to continue expanding and build on its recent momentum.

Based on these figures, Emirates Islamic Bank enters the next phase with a clear advantage over Dukhan Bank after moving ahead across the main financial portfolios while also outperforming its rival on profitability and returns.

However, that advantage remains dependent on whether the current growth differential continues, leaving the competitive balance open to change in the coming periods. Sustained strong growth at Emirates Islamic would strengthen its ability to widen the gap and consolidate its lead, while faster growth at Dukhan Bank could narrow the gap and allow it to reclaim 10th place among Islamic banks in the Arab world.

The direction of the competition will therefore be determined not by current business scale alone, but by each bank’s ability to maintain strong growth and translate it into sustainable expansion while preserving high levels of profitability and efficiency.