Doha: QNB Group, the largest financial institution in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region, reported yesterday QR6.8bn ($1.9bn) net profit for the six months ended June 30, 2021, an increase of 6 percent compared to the same period last year.
Total Assets reached QR1,065bn ($293bn), an increase of 10 percent from June 2020. QNB Group successfully delivered a strong Operating Income of QR13.6bn ($3.7bn) for the first half of 2021, an increase of 6 percent from June 2020. This helped to increase the overall profitability for the Group.
Loans and Advances grew by 6 percent to reach QR747bn ($205bn) being the main driver of growth in Total Assets. On the funding side, QNB diversified its customer deposits generation that helped increase its deposit base to QR767bn ($211bn).
QNB Group continued its drive for cost rationalisation in addition to sustainable revenue generating sources. This continues to help QNB Group to improve the efficiency (cost to income) ratio to 22.9 percent as at June 30, 2021 which is considered one of the best ratios among the large financial institutions in the MEA region.
During first half of 2021, QNB Group increased its loan loss provisioning to QR2.9bn ($793m). This caused a marginal increase in NPL to rise to 2.3 percent as at June 30, 2021, one of the lowest amongst financial institutions in the MEA region, reflecting the high quality of the Group’s loan book and the effective management of credit risk. The Group’s continued conservative policy with regard to provisioning for potential loan losses helped to achieve a coverage ratio of 108 percent as at June 30, 2021.
Total Equity increased to QR98bn ($27bn), up by 6 percent from June 2020. Earnings per share increased to QR0.68 ($0.19).
On June 30, 2021, QNB Group reported a strong Capital Adequacy Ratio of 18.8 percent higher than the regulatory minimum requirements of the Qatar Central Bank and Basel Committee.
QNB Group serves a customer base of approximately 20 million customers supported by more than 28,000 staff resources operating from 1,000 locations and more than 4,600 ATMs.
