Middle Eastern regional awards
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Best Bank: Qatar National Bank |
Although it still faces tough competition from both the growing Islamic financial sector and increasingly dynamic conventional operations offered by rivals such as Doha Bank, Qatar National Bank has regained its momentum in the past year and wins the award for best bank. It has produced a strong set of results, posting net profits up 30.4% to QR468 million ($550 million) and total assets rising by 43.2% to QR71.1 billion. Loans and deposits both increased by about 50% and the bank’s return on equity was up from 30.8% to 33.6%.
At the heart of this performance was the strong growth in corporate banking, with the bank having been appointed lead manager for most of the major deals taking place in Qatar.
It was the corporate adviser for QTel’s $2 billion loan facility, a deal that provided the financial resources for the company to make international acquisitions.
It was also mandated lead arranger for a $130 million syndicated loan for Gulf Drilling and took at $225 million tranche of the Qatargas 4 financing.
The bank’s better performance on the retail side, where it reversed a period in which its market share fell, was demonstrated by growth in all financial indicators including profits, which rose 48% to QR518 million.
