(MENAFN- Gulf Times) The Commercial Bank Group has posted a net profit of QR259mn in nine months up to September, the leading Qatar-based bank said yesterday.
The group delivered balance sheet growth of 8.1% for the nine-month period with total assets at QR134bn compared with QR123.9bn for the same period in 2016.
The total asset growth was driven mainly by an increase of QR8.5bn in loans and advances and QR3.1bn in investment securities.
The group's customer deposits increased by 9.8% to QR73.3bn during the period under review, compared with QR66.7bn for the same period last year. Loans and advances to customers increased by 11.2% to QR84.5bn for the nine months that ended in September compared with QR76bn in the same period in 2016. The growth in lending has been generated, mainly from the government and semi-government and services sectors.
Commercial Bank chairman Sheikh Abdulla bin Ali bin Jabor al-Thani said, 'Despite the ongoing situation in the region, Qatar's financial system remains robust, with Qatar remaining an ‘AA-‘ rated country by Fitch. Within this, Commercial Bank continues to see positive progress as seen by the growth in our underlying business and strong liquidity. Commercial Bank has continued to support and strengthen Qatar's investment and trade flows through its subsidiary ABank in Turkey and its associate NBO in Oman.
Commercial Bank vice chairman Hussain Alfardan said, 'Commercial Bank has continued to show solid progress in delivering on its strategy. The core underlying business saw quarterly operating profits increasing by 9.6% over the same period last year, our third quarter in a row of increased profitability at the operating level. In parallel, we have continued to provision for our legacy loan book, our funding remains robust and our long term credit is rated between ‘A+' and ‘BBB+' by the three main agencies.
Net interest income for the group increased by 1.9% to QR1.83bn in nine months up to September compared with QR1.8bn achieved in the same period in 2016, due to an increase in the interest income as a result of higher interest rates compared to last year. Net interest margin remains stable at 2.2% compared to Q2, 2017.
Total operating expenses were tightly managed at a group level, down 17.2% to QR1.01bn in September compared with QR1.22bn for the same period in 2016. Costs reductions were primarily driven by lower staff and administrative expenses. The group's net provisions for loans and advances increased by 31% to QR1.45bn in September, from QR1.1bn for the same period in 2016.
The non-performing loan (NPL) ratio increased to 5.6% in the nine months ended September 2017 compared to 5.3% for the same period in 2016.
However, loan coverage ratio increased to 91.6% in the nine months up to September compared with 78.8% for the same period in 2016.
Commercial Bank Group chief executive officer Joseph Abraham said, 'We continued to execute strongly on the Strategic Reshape plan which we announced 12 months ago. Our balance sheet is strong with 11.2% growth in loans, ahead of the market growth of 7% and in line with our targeted sectors. In deposits we saw growth of 9.8% with liquidity continuing to be well managed.
MENAFN1710201700670000ID1095957861
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.