DUBAI- Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB), the United Arab Emirates' largest sharia-compliant lender, posted a 16 percent increase in first-quarter net profit on Wednesday on the back of higher income from Islamic financing and investment.

The bank made 1.21 billion dirhams ($329.5 million) in the three months to March 31, it said in a statement. This compares with a profit of 1.04 billion dirhams in the corresponding period of 2017.

SICO Bahrain forecast the bank would make a net profit of 1.13 billion dirhams. 

Earnings were lifted by a 16 percent rise in Islamic financing and investing transactions and a small dip in operating expenses to 590 million dirhams, from 592 million dirhams in the same period of last year.

($1 = 3.6726 UAE dirham)

(Reporting by Tom Arnold Editing by Edmund Blair) ((Tom.Arnold@thomsonreuters.com; +97144536265; Reuters Messaging: tom.arnold.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))