|
His Excellency Sheikh Fahad Bin Mohammad Bin Jabor Al-Thani, Chairman of Board of Directors of Doha Bank, announced that the board has approved the Interim Financial Statements for the first quarter of 2009 in their meeting that was held on 15/4/2009. The net profit for the first quarter of 2009 has increased by more than 20% to an impressive QR 330 million, compared to QR 274 million for the same period in 2008. Net interest income rose by 24% to QR 267 million, net Islamic financing income rose an impressive of more than 30% to reach QR 58 million and the net Operating Income during the same period has gone up from QAR 428 million to QR 551 million reflecting an increase of 29%. Total assets increased by QR 9.1 billion, a growth of more than 27%, from QR 33.2 billion as at 31 March 2008 to QR 42.2 billion as at 31 March 2009. Net loans & Advances increased to QR 24.2 billion from QR 20.7 billion for the same period last year, registering a growth of 17%, with Deposits of QR 22 billion as at 31 March 2009 evidencing the strong liquidity position of the Bank.
H.E. Sheikh Abdul Rehman Bin Mohammad Bin Jabor Al-Thani, Managing Director of Doha Bank said 'The Bank has become extremely strong over the years with shareholders’ funds, as at 31 March 2009, at QAR 4.7 billion, registering an increase of 42% during the last twelve months. The paid-up share capital of our bank has organically increased over the years and, as at 31 March 2009 it is QAR 1.81 billion reflecting the strong confidence we enjoy from our shareholders and this region. Through the strategic utilisation of the shareholder's funds by way of increasing our performance levels the return on average equity is 28.50% as at 31 March 2009 the best in the industry. The Bank, given the scale of operations, has achieved a very high return on the average assets of 3.25% as at 31 March 2009 which is a clear demonstration of the effective utilization of shareholder's funds and optimum asset allocation strategies'.
H.E. Sheikh Fahad continued 'The Bank's core revenue streams, like interest income, foreign exchange earnings etc., have shown remarkable growth reflecting on the Bank's intrinsic strength towards recurring earning capacity and also on the Bank's productive operational performance'.
H.E. Sheikh Abdul Rehman continued 'The Bank's future plans include the continued implementation of effective risk management strategies both locally regionally and internationally. We have also completed the sale and the related formalities of the identified DSM equity portfolio to the government in a USD 147 million (QAR 537 million) deal as part of the government's proactive measure to infuse liquidity and improve the market stability to support the ongoing developments of Qatar and the related financing needs'.
Talking on the key innovation and initiatives by Doha Bank in the first quarter 2009, Mr. R. Seetharaman, Chief Executive Officer said 'Continuing with our tradition of first to introduce innovative trend-setting products and service, we successfully launched 'Green Banking' encouraging each and every Doha Bank customer towards protection of the environment through paper-less banking techniques. The green banking has been well received by our customers and many new customers have also subscribed to green banking with us. We also inaugurated the Doha Islamic Al Wakra Branch in February 2009 taking our Islamic banking network to 5 branches. Further, we have also extended our e-remittance banking services with Vietnam Bank for Industry and Trade, the largest commercial bank in Vietnam in March 2009. We in our continued efforts in creating a knowledge society, amidst the ongoing financial crisis, organized a knowledge sharing session titled 'Global Financial Crisis and Opportunities for Qatar' in March 2009 with H.E. Sheikh Abdulla Bin Saud Al-Thani, Governor of Qatar Central Bank as the Chief Guest. This knowledge sharing session was acclaimed by all the attendees comprising diplomats, businessmen, industrialists, analysts etc., from across the State of Qatar'.
Mr. Seetharaman attributed the forward looking vision of board, high level of commitment of management and staff, customer care, best suite of products and services, and ongoing product and service improvement as the main reasons for Doha Bank reaching this coveted position. He concluded saying, 'We are committed to sustain the growth, profitability and stakeholder and customer expectations, and maintain our hall mark in terms of performance, innovation, security and quality'.
|
 |