(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The Peninsula
The Commercial Bank group has reported a net profit of QR259m for the first nine months of the current financial year ended September 30, 2017. The Group's net profit has declined by 47.3 percent compared to QR491m reported during the corresponding period last year.
However, the Bank's total assets value has reached QR134bn, up by 8.1 percent, while the customer loans and advances surged to QR84.5bn, up by 11.2 percent compared to QR76bn for the same period in 2016. The growth in lending has been generated, mainly from the government and semi-government and services sectors.
Sheikh Abdulla bin Ali bin Jabor Al Thani, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Commercial Bank, 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.
Hussain Al Fardan, Commercial Bank's Vice-Chairman, added: '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 percent 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 operating income for the group decreased by 2.4 percent to about QR2.65bn for the nine months ended September 30, 2017, down from about QR2.72bn achieved in the same period in 2016. Net interest income for the group increased by 1.9 percent to QR1.83bn for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 compared to QR1.80bn achieved in the same period in 2016, due to an increase in the interest income as a result of higher interest rates as compared to last year. Net interest margin remains stable at 2.2 percent compared to Q2, 2017.
Non-interest income for the Group decreased by 11 percent to QR818.5m for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 compared with QR919.7m for the same period last year. The overall decrease in non-interest income was due to lower income from investment securities.
Total operating expenses were tightly managed at a group level, down 17.2 percent to QR1.01bn for the nine months compared with QR1.22bn for the same period in 2016. Costs reductions were primarily driven by lower staff and administrative expenses.
Joseph Abraham, Commercial Bank's Group CEO, 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 percent growth in loans, ahead of the market growth of 7 percent and in line with our targeted sectors.
'In deposits we saw growth of 9.8 percent with liquidity continuing to be well managed.
'For the third quarter in a row our costs are down, with costs falling 17.2 percent compared to the same period last year, reducing our cost to income ratio from 45.2 percent in the same period last year to 38.1 percent.
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