Doha, 17 June 2010 - Qatar National Bank (QNB) was selected once again as the "Best Bank in Qatar" at the Euromoney Awards for Excellence 2010, which was held recently in Beirut, Lebanon.
The award is in recognition of QNB’s leading domestic position and strong performance across all fundamental indicators. QNB, which has set the pace in various segments of the Qatari financial sector, has also in recent years expanded its presence internationally to cover 22 markets worldwide through its affiliates and subsidiaries. The Bank’s consistent growth across all activities was also a major consideration.
The Euromoney Awards for Excellence is among the most respected global awards for banking excellence. In addition to certified performance criteria, the judges utilise independent data available from BankScope, Bloomberg, Capital Intelligence, and Dealogic while choosing the winners each year.
They consider factors such as business volume, innovation, leadership, credit ratings, quality of assets and earnings, efficiency ratios and key performance indicators.
The Best Bank Award is given only to regulated financial institutions having both commercial and retail banking capabilities, with the shortlist for the 2010 awards being judged on specific achievements between 1st April 2009 and 31st March 2010.
QNB achieved record annual performance at the end of 2009 when Net Profit exceeded QR4.2 billion, representing an increase of 15% year-on-year. In the following three months, ended 31 March 2010, QNB’s steady growth continued, with Net Profit for the period being QR1.27 billion, up 25.3% on the net profit delivered in March 2009.
A major consideration for the award was QNB’s ability to maintain the quality of its assets and credit portfolio. Led by an effective risk management framework, the Bank was able to maintain its non-performing loans ratio at 0.7% of gross loans at 31 March 2010, whilst growing its consumer finance portfolio.
The Best Bank Award also factors in the capabilities of QNB Capital, the investment banking arm of QNB, particularly how investment banking and advisory services complement QNB’s overall reputation as the leading bank in Qatar.
During the assessment period for the award, QNB Capital participated in significant transactions including serving as Joint Lead Manager to a US$7 billion sovereign debt issuance in November 2009. QNB Capital was also a Joint Lead Manager and Financial Advisor to Vodafone Qatar's IPO in 2009, as well as Lead Manager to Mazaya Qatar’s IPO in the first quarter of 2010.
Further evidence of QNB’s leading market position was the affirmation of QNB's credit ratings by Standard & Poor’s and Capital Intelligence during the first quarter of 2010. QNB’s rating from the leading international ratings agencies including S&P, Capital Intelligence, Fitch and Moody's is the highest and on par with a small group of leading financial institutions in the region.