Khaled Abdullah Al Khoori
Qatar First Bank (QFB), a Shari’ah compliant bank listed on the Qatar Stock Exchange, has reported a significant improvement in its profitability for the first quarter of the current financial year ended March 31, 2017 (Q1,2017).
The Bank’s revenues during the first quarter touched QR121.5m, and improved profitability by 51percent, according to QFB’s financial data released yesterday.
Khaled Abdullah Al Khoori, Acting Chief Executive Officer, QFB said: “As the global investment market continues to go through major challenges, QFB was able to record revenues of QR121.5m and improved profitability by 51 percent from a loss of QR19.6m (during Q1, 2016) to a loss of QR9.6m (for the same period this year).”
Al Khoori added: “We envision that the global economic backdrop will remain challenging for the remainder of this year; however, we will continue to push ahead to develop innovative financial solutions and source attractive investment opportunities for our individual and institutional clients.”
Since the beginning of 2017, QFB has been witnessing solid achievements marked by the development of the placement and distribution force that will focus on offering personalized investment opportunities and financial solutions to both individual and corporate clients. To support this initiative, the bank has signed several agreements with internationally recognized players expanding the range of offerings to meet the changing needs of clients across several markets.
Al Khoori said: “The year 2016 saw several key economic events that contributed to the stagnation of the global economy. The depreciation of major currencies, the plunge in oil prices, and the many country-specific macroeconomic and extraordinary factors; have all furthered the slowdown of the global economy. At QFB we were not immune to the prevailing global economic scene.”
Despite these challenging economic factors that continue to have influence on the bank’s investment book, QFB’s total assets decreased by 3 percent from the year end 2016, and closed at QR5.8bn.
The investment portfolio continued to generate healthy dividends recording an increase of 14 percent compared to the first quarter of 2016. QFB’s Sukuk book also continued to generate positive returns resulted in an increase of 14 percent compared the same period of 2016.
