Qatar National Bank’s (QNB) case as Middle East’s best bank for diversity and inclusion (D&I) is built on a milestone year for governance alongside a broadening set of structured programmes designed to move gender representation up through the organisation.
The headline achievement in 2025 was the appointment of QNB’s first two female board members at group level –reaching 18% female board representation; a landmark for a bank headquartered in Qatar and one that reflects a deliberate shift in its approach to leadership diversity. The ambition is to reach 30% female board members across subsidiaries by 2030.
At workforce level, women accounted for 49% of QNB employees as of June 2025, with 64% of Qatari national employees being women. Women held 20% of executive management roles and 35% of senior management positions. The gender pay ratio stood at 0.92 – median female to median male salary – and women represented 39% of new hires and 39% of promotions during the period. QNB’s female employment rate and subsidiary board representation figures have received independent limited assurance from Deloitte.
The qualitative record in 2025 is anchored by several targeted development initiatives. QNB partnered with HEC Paris to deliver two customised leadership programmes for Qatari talent aligned with Qatar National Vision 2030, with women accounting for 46% of participants. Post-programme, 95% of participants reported the content was beneficial and 91% reported applying the learning in the workplace.
QNB is working to translate its D&I commitments into measurable outcomes at every level, underpinned by externally assured data and programmes that extend well beyond its headquarters
A dedicated mentorship and coaching programme was also launched during the year, offering one-to-one sessions with certified professional coaches to support female leaders in building leadership presence and navigating career progression. An International Women’s Day training programme, which focused on confidence-building and strengths identification, reached more than 200 female employees.
Beyond gender, QNB’s workforce spans 78 nationalities across 28 countries and three continents, and the group’s learning and development investment grew 18% year-on-year in 1H25. Access to the Ithraa learning platform – with more than 2,400 courses – was expanded in 2025 alongside mandatory training on unconscious bias, harassment prevention and human-rights awareness. Women’s representation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)-related roles reached 28% by 1H25, up from 20% in 2023.
The group’s inclusion agenda extends to its products and branches. In Qatar, QNB’s partnership with Ooredoo on its Mobile Money product – supporting the Wage Protection System for lower-income workers – had 410,000 active clients and processed 12 million transactions in 1H25.
Across its operations, QNB is working to translate its D&I commitments into measurable outcomes at every level, underpinned by externally assured data and programmes that extend well beyond its headquarters.
