Qatar First Bank L.L.C. (Public) “QFB” held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) yesterday to discuss the bank’s performance and future initiatives after releasing its financials for the year ended 31 December 2018 at QFB Lounge premises in Doha – Qatar.
QFB’s Board of Directors, chaired by chairman Abdulla Bin Fahad Bin Ghorab Al Marri, along with shareholders and attendees of the AGM & EGM, discussed and approved, the bank’s audited financial results and the performance of the 2018 full year of operation.
Ten board members were elected by the shareholders through the cumulative voting process in accordance with the applicable rules and regulations. The result of voting was QFB new BoD consists of the following winners: Sheikh Faisal Thani Al Thani, Mr. Abdulla Fahad Ghorab Al Marri, Dr. Mohammed Nasser Mohammed Al Qahtani, Mr. Abdel Latif Mohammed Al Sada, Mr. Salman Abdulghani, Mr. Ibrahim Jaidah, Mr. Mohammed Reslan Al Khayat, Mr. Mohammed Yousef Al Mana and Mr. Salem Al Marri and Mohammed Al Hajiri. The Bank will now seek to fulfill the necessary regulatory and legal arrangements to incorporate the changes of membership in its Board of Directors. Following the Bank’s AGM, the EGM took place at the same venue and passed key resolutions.
Bank’s EGM through shareholders’ approval, adopted a special resolution to approve QFB’s Board of Directors share capital reduction recommendation in accordance with regulatory requirements by the Qatar Financial Markets Authority (QFMA), QFC rules and others applicable laws. The Bank will now seek to fulfill the necessary regulatory and legal arrangements to effect the capital reduction recommendation. Another special resolution was passed approving certain alterations to the articles of association in accordance with the new corporate governance regulations issued by QFMA.
Abdulla Bin Fahad Bin Ghorab Al Marri, QFB’s Chairman, said:
“At QFB we were not immune to the prevailing macro-economic conditions. Record such net loss was mainly driven by global and regional headwinds resulting from prevailing market uncertainties that affected the performance of the bank’s alternative investments portfolio.
We will seek to obtain the required approvals on the proposed capital reduction plan that will play a significant role in our growth. Our outlook is very firm and optimistic. The launch of revised strategy and appointment of new Board of Directors and management team will definitely boost our performance and accelerate momentum of coming back into the green.”
Financial year 2018 being the most challenging year for the bank reporting a net loss of QAR 482 million along with a disposal loss and loss on fair value remeasurement of equity investments of QAR 331 million during the year”
Total income (excluding disposal loss and loss on fair value remeasurement of equity investments) showed a growth momentum with an increase of 24.1% at QAR 222 million, as compared to QAR 178 million of previous year. This was mainly driven by the fee income from the structured products and a reduction of 26% in returns to unrestricted investment account holders (the cost of funding) due to the better management of its loan to deposit ratio.
In 2018, Treasury and Investment Management arm focused more on strengthening product capabilities. Key focus areas included organic growth of the bank’s customer base of high net worth Individuals, institutional investors and government related entities. Furthermore, the team directly acquired several yielding real estate properties in the US and UK while structuring several capital protected structured products.
To achieve sustainable business growth and to turn around financial and business performance, the bank new board and senior management adopting a timely strategy that focuses on shifting the bank’s operating model from asset management to fee income on structured product.