Qatar First Bank L.L.C. (Public), a leading Shari’ah compliant bank based in Qatar and listed on the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE), has released its financial results for the six-month period ending 30th June 2018 recording a net loss of QAR 354 million.
Ayman Zaidan, Head of Treasury and Investment Management said:
“Year 2018 is showing a positive growth momentum for the overall banking and finance sector compared to the previous year but the regional landscape still continues to be challenging for most of the investment banks on regional and international level. Given these conditions QFB recorded a net loss of QAR 354 million during the first half of 2018. QFB’s ambitious cost rationalization plan that we implemented starting from the first half of 2016 continue to generate positive results by significantly reducing both staff cost and other operating expenses by 34% and 17% respectively compared to the same period in 2017 which supports our purpose of raising bank’s efficiency level”.
QFB recorded unrealized losses associated with the value of its proprietary investment portfolio. These losses are mainly driven by Turkish assets and worsening macroeconomic conditions. However, in line with the Bank’s new strategy, it is currently actively exploring avenues of exit to dispose some of its assets with the proceeds earmarked for the development and expansion of the bank’s new product offering.
In an ambitious drive by our Treasury and Investment arm through direct sourcing and structuring is striving to increase the bank’s assets under management by multiple deal by deal transactions. Treasury team is also working around the clock in developing timely financial products and solutions targeting new and existing clients prioritising the prudent liquidity management measures which will lead the bank to generate positive net profit margins.
We envision that regional economies will remain showing mix signals, however we will continue to push ahead with our expansion strategy into banking and adopt an opportunistic outlook to source viable investment opportunities and generate sound returns for our clients and shareholders.