| Global Awards for Excellence | ||
| Middle Eastern Regional Awards of Excellence | ||
| Bahrain | Egypt | Iran |
| Jordan | Kuwait | Lebanon |
| Oman | Qatar | Saudi Arabia |
| UAE | ||
 |
Best Bank: Qatar National Bank |
Qatar’s leaders are taking pre-emptive action to ensure that none of its banks gets into difficulty. Last year the Qatar Investment Authority bought 5% stakes in all local banks and is expected to take another 5% later this year, except in Qatar National Bank, which is already 50% state owned.
The government is also buying property investments worth up to $4.1 billion from the banks, as well as equity portfolios worth another $6 billion in a bid to prop them up. The tactic appears to have worked, with the stock market, up more than 40% since the measures were announced in March.
Against this background of government support, Qatar National Bank takes the award of best bank in Qatar. In 2008 its net profits grew 46%, its total assets jumped 33% and earnings per share increased to QR15.4 from QR11. At the end of the first quarter of this year, net income was up 10.2% year on year.
QNB’s main rivals, Qatar Islamic Bank and Doha Bank, have also achieved strong results. In the nine months to end of September 2008, QIB grew its profits by 45.7% year on year. Doha Bank, meanwhile, increased its profits by 21.3% in the first quarter of 2009, year on year. QNB, however, is the dominant bank in customer deposits and loans.
