Doha Bank expects first-half earnings from lending and other core activities to rise by at least 35 per cent, spurred by corporate and retail demand.

"I would say core earnings would be up 35-40 percent," Raghavan Seetharaman, the bank's deputy chief executive, said in an interview in the Qatari capital, Doha.

"A significant portion is corporate and retail banking, a bit is in trade finance, a little bit in Islamic finance," Seetharaman said. He declined to give an outlook for net income.

Qatar's fifth-largest bank by market value in April posted its first rise in quarterly profit in three quarters, spurred by higher income from lending, and higher fees and commissions.

Net income in the three months to March 31 rose 4.9 percent to 223.4 million riyals ($61.41 million), or 1.79 riyals per share, compared with 212.87 million riyals, or 1.71 riyals per share, in the year-earlier period.

Interest income surged 54 percent to 356.2 million riyals, and fees and commissions rose 43 percent to 83.4 million riyals.

Shares of Doha Bank have fallen 10.6 percent this year to Sunday's close and have underperformed the index by 15.4 percent, according to Reuters data.

The bank expects to begin operations in Dubai in July, Seetharaman said, six months later than initially planned.     Seetharaman told Reuters in October the bank planned to open its Dubai branch in January. - Reuters