Mubasher: Qatar National Bank (QNB) on Wednesday posted an 8.1% year-on-year increase in its profits for the second half of 2018.
Net profits amounted to QAR 3.7 billion ($1.02 billion) in the period between April to June, from QAR 3.4 billion ($934 million) in Q2-17, according to the bank’s statement to Mubasher.
For the first half of 2018, QNB’s profits grew 7.2% to QAR 7.1 billion, compared to QAR 6.7 billion for the same period of the previous year.
Total assets of the Middle East’s largest lender hiked 10% by the end of June to QAR 604 billion ($232 billion), touching an all-time high, the statement showed.
The bank attributed its assets’ growth to a 9% increase in loans and advances to record QAR 604 billion, that in return contributed maintaining the Qatari lender's loans to deposits ratio at 98.4% as at 30 June 2018.
Moreover, maintaining non-performing loans (NPLs) ratio at 1.8% reflected the high quality of QNB’s loan book and the effective management of credit risk, according to the statement.
The bank'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,” it highlighted.
In Q1-18, QNB’s profits levelled up 7% year-on-year to QAR 3.4 billion.
It is worth noting that QNB remains the highest-rated bank in Qatar and one of the highest-rated banks in the world with the fourth highest rating from the major rating agencies of Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch.
By 01:10 Qatar time, QNB’s stock rose 0.44% at QAR 160.14.
