QNB Group, the largest financial institution in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region, announced its results for the nine months ended 30 September 2020.
Net Profit for the nine months ended 30 September 2020 reached QAR9.5 billion (USD2.6 billion), a decrease of 15% from same period last year. Total Assets reached QAR986 billion (USD271 billion), an increase of 8% from 30 September 2019. Due to the current global economic headwinds, QNB Group set aside additional loan loss provisions amounting to QAR1.9 billion (USD520 million) to protect the Group from any adverse shocks in the loan book. This affected the overall profitability for the Group.
Loans and advances grew by 10% to reach QAR717 billion (USD197 billion). Strong customer deposits generation helped to increase customer deposits by 8% to reach QAR715 billion (USD196 billion) from 30 September 2019.
Operating Income increased by 1% to reach QAR19.2 billion (USD5.3 billion). This reflects QNB Group’s success in maintaining sustainable growth across a number of revenue segments, despite fee related concessions offered to customers located in QNB Group’s key markets affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Group’s drive for operational efficiency is yielding cost-savings and improved revenue has helped QNB Group to materially improve efficiency (cost to income) ratio from 25.7% to 24.2%, considered one of the best ratios among large financial institutions in the MEA region.
NPL ratio amounted to 2% as at 30 September 2020, one of the lowest amongst 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 104%, which reflects the conservative approach adopted by the Group towards non-performing loans.
During September, QNB Group successfully completed issuance of USD600 million first ever green bond issued from Qatar and the largest green bond issuance by a financial institution in the MENA region.
Total Equity reached QAR94 billion (USD26 billion), up by 1% from September 2019. Earnings per share stood at QAR0.95 (USD0.26).
QNB Group reported robust levels of capital, liquidity and funding measured in terms of CAR achieved at 18.1%, LCR at 173% and NSFR at 104%. All of the required ratios were higher than the regulatory minimum requirements of the Qatar Central Bank and Basel Committee.
QNB Group serves a customer base of approximately 20 million customers supported by 29,000 staff resources operating from 1,100 locations and more than 4,300 ATMs.