QNB Group posts Q1 net profit of $900m

QNB Group, the largest financial institution in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region, announced its results for the three months ended on March 31, 2018. For the three months ended on March 31, 2018, Net Profit reached QAR3.4 billion ($0.9 billion), up by 7 per cent compared to previous year. Total assets increased by 12 per cent from March 2017 to reach QAR834 billion ($229 billion), the highest ever achieved by the Group. Key driver of growth in total assets was from loans and advances which grew by 12 per cent to reach QAR598 billion ($164 billion). Also QNB Group was successful in attracting funding, which resulted in increased customer funding by 12 per cent to reach QAR604 billion ($166 billion). This enabled the Group to maintain its loans to deposits ratio at 99 per cent. The Group’s prudent cost control policy and strong revenue generating capability helped to improve the efficiency ratio (cost to income ratio) to 27.8 per cent, which is considered one of the best ratios among financial institutions in the region. The stock of non-performing loans ratio of 1.8 per cent as at March 31, 2018 has been witnessed on a consistent basis, year on year, reflecting the high quality of the Group’s loan book and the effective management of credit risk. The Group’s conservative policy in regard to provisioning continued with the coverage ratio maintained at 110 per cent as at March 31, 2018. Total Equity increased by 2 per cent from March 2017 to reach QAR73 billion ($20 billion) as at 31 March 2018. Earnings per Share reached QAR3.6 ($1.0), compared to QAR3.3 ($0.9) in March 2017. Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) calculated as per the QCB and Basel III requirements stood at 16.0 per cent as at 31 March 2018, higher than the regulatory minimum requirements of the Qatar Central Bank and Basel Committee. QNB Group serves a customer base of more than 22 million customers with more than 28,000 staff resources operating from 1,200 locations and a network comprising more than 4,300 ATMs.