Sheikh Abdullah bin Ali Al Jabor Al Thani (left) with Hussein Al Fardan. Ibrahim Kutty
BY MOHAMMAD SHOEB
DOHA: After the successful acquisition of a 70.84 percent stake in Turkey’s Alternatifbank (ABank) earlier last year, the Commercial Bank of Qatar (CBQ), one of the country’s leading lenders, is planning to focus on local investment opportunities, and has limited appetite for investing overseas markets, said a senior official of the bank yesterday.
“We want to focus more in the local as well as well as the UAE markets from where we get our maximum profits, and so far we have no plans for foreign investments or acquisition of banks overseas,” said Sheikh Abdullah bin Ali Al Jabor Al Thani, Vice-chairman of CBQ.
Sheikh Abdullah, who was speaking with the media on the sidelines of the bank’s Ordinary and Extra Ordinary General Meeting, said: “Given the host of investment opportunities coming up in the local market we expect much better financial results for the bank next year.”
He said CBQ has about 31 branches across the country, and it is looking forward to open more branches, and it is waiting for approval from the Qatar Central Bank. Asked if the bank is worried about its investments in Turkey due to the ongoing political crisis, he said: “We are fully confident about the future of Turkey as well as our investments in the country. It (investment) was a well thought of decision, and we are expecting good growth with the growth of the Turkish economy.”
The AGM approved all recommendations of the Board of Directors, including the distribution of a cash dividend of 20 percent of the share’s nominal value to the shareholders for 2013, which is equivalent to QR2 for each share held, and
bonus shares of 20 percent (one bonus share for every five shares held).
The bank delivered a full year net profit of QR1.6bn ended December 31, 2013, down from QR2.02bn recorded a year ago. However, profit for the fourth quarter of 2013 was up 7 percent to QR300m compared to the third quarter of 2013. The operating income for the is up by 15 percent to QR3.4bn and total assets grew by 41 percent to QR113bn. Customer loans and advances are up by 38 percent at QR66.9bn. Customers’ deposit grew by 53 percent to QR63.4bn. The earnings per share is QR6.48. The bank raised QR2bn Additional Tier 1 capital in 2013.
One of the agenda of the meeting was to elect new directors of the Board for the next three yeas. The bank’s existing Chairman, Abdullah bin Khalifa Al Attiyah, was not present in the meeting, and he decided not to contest for the next term. The name of new Board members, including the name of the new chairman is expected to be announced today.
“Today we must pay tribute to Mr Abdullah bin Khalifa Al Attiyah, and thank him for the efforts and commitment he has made to execute his role and fulfil his responsibility during the time he served as chairman. We
regretfully understand his decision not to run again for the position due to personal reasons,” said Hussein Al Fardan, Managing Director of the bank in his address.
The Peninsula
