Doha: QNB Group, the largest financial institution in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region, reported a net profit of QR6.4bn ($1.8bn) for the six months ended 30 June 2020, a decrease of 13 percent from same period last year.
Considering the global economic conditions, QNB Group opted to increase the loan loss provisions during the first half of 2020 by QR1.2bn ($320m) to protect the Group from any adverse shocks in the loan book. This affected overall profitability for the Group.
Operating Income increased by 2 percent to QR12.8bn ($3.5bn). This reflects QNB Group’s success in maintaining sustainable growth across a number of operational revenue segments, despite fee related concessions offered to customers located in QNB Group’s key markets affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Total Assets reached QR972bnn ($267bn), an increase of 10 percent from 30 June 2019. Loans and advances grew by 11 percent to reach QR705bn ($194bn), in supporting growth in Total Assets. Strong customer deposits generation helped to increase customer deposits by 10 percent to reach QR712bn ($196bn) from 30 June 2019.
In addition, as another response to current economic conditions, QNB Group renewed its operational rationalization, which is yielding cost-savings that has helped QNB Group materially improve efficiency (cost to income) ratio to 24.5 percent, from 25.6 percent in June 2019, which is considered one of the best ratios among large financial institutions in the MEA region.
NPL ratio amounted to 2.0 percent as at 30 June 2020, one of the lowest among financial institutions in the MEA region, reflecting the high quality of the Group’s loan book and the effective management of credit risk. QNB Group achieved a coverage ratio of 100% which reflects the conservative approach adopted by the Group towards non-performing loans.
Total Equity reached QR92bn ($25bn), up by 3 percent from June 2019. Earnings per share stood at QR0.64 ($0.2).
QNB Group reported robust levels of capital, liquidity and funding measured in terms of CAR achieved at 18.3 percent, LCR at 159 percent and NSFR at 104 percent. All of the required ratios were higher than the regulatory minimum requirements of the Qatar Central Bank and Basel Committee.
