ANKARA: Making a good start to the year at the operating level, Commercial Bank has posted a first-quarter net profit of QR462.5mn.
The Q1 net profit increased by 19.5% compared to QR387mn achieved in the fourth quarter of 2014.
However, due to higher provisioning, the first-quarter financial results represent a 15.7% drop in profitability compared to same period in 2014, Commercial Bank said yesterday. The premier bank’s total assets stood at QR116.1bn in the first quarter, up 1.8% on the same period last year.
Customer loans and advances reached QR71.9bn in the first quarter, up 4.7% on the same period last year.
Customer deposits, however, were marginally down 0.6% to QAR 61.7bn.
Commercial Bank’s first-quarter results were announced by chairman Sheikh Abdullah bin Ali bin Jabor al-Thani in Doha yesterday.
Sheikh Abdullah said, “Qatar’s economy continues to diversify in line with the Qatar National Vision 2030. Commercial Bank’s results for the first quarter of 2015 reflect the changing dynamics of Qatar’s economy, with robust growth being generated from the private sector. The successful execution of Commercial Bank’s strategy across its operations in Qatar, Turkey, UAE and Oman has resulted in a strong set of financial results for the first quarter of the year.”
Commercial Bank vice-chairman and managing director Hussain Alfardan said, “Commercial Bank has made a good start to the year 2015 at the operating level. The first quarter has seen a solid performance from Commercial Bank, a good quarter from ABank (Turkey) and continued profit growth from our associate banks in the UAE and Oman. These performances have enabled Commercial Bank to deliver a quarterly profit of QR462.5mn.”
Commercial Bank’s net interest income was QR625.5mn for the quarter that ended in March, 0.8% higher than the same period of 2014, reflecting the growth in lending.
