Qatar-based QNB Group, a top financial institution in the region, has posted a net profit of QR7.1 billion ($1.9 billion) for the first six months of the year, up by 7 per cent compared to last year.

Total assets increased by 10 per cent from June 2017 to reach QR846 billion ($232 billion), the highest ever achieved by the Group.

The key driver of total assets growth was from loans and advances which grew by 9 per cent to reach QR604 billion ($166 billion). This was mainly funded by customer deposits which increased by 9 per cent to reach QR614 billion ($169 billion) from June 2017. This helped to maintain QNB Group’s loans to deposits ratio at 98.4 per cent as at 30 June 2018.

The Group’s drive for operational efficiency is yielding cost-savings in addition to sustainable revenue generating sources. This helped QNB Group to improve the efficiency ratio (cost to income ratio) to 27.2 per cent, from 29.3 per cent last year which is considered one of the best ratios among large financial institutions in the MEA.

Also the Group’s strong recovery efforts helped reduce the net impairment charge on QNB’s loan book during the year demonstrating strong credit quality of the bank’s asset base. The bank’s non-performing loans ratio stood at 1.8 per cent.

The Group’s conservative policy in regard to provisioning maintained the coverage ratio at110 per cent as at 30June 2018.

Total equity reached QR76 billion ($21 billion), up by 3 per cent from June 2017. Earnings per share increased to QR7.4 ($2.0), compared to QR7.0 ($1.9) in June 2017.

Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) as at 30June 2018 amounted to 15.8 per cent, higher than the regulatory minimum requirements of the Qatar Central Bank and Basel Committee.

QNB's successful funding from the international markets during the first six months of 2018 which includes, amongst others, (1) capital market issuances of $560 million with a 5 and 10-year maturity in Australia and (2) $720 million bonds with 30-year maturity in Taiwan.

QNB Group serves a customer base of more than 22 million customers with more than 29,000 staff resources operating from 1,100 locations and 4,400 ATMs. – TradeArabia News Service