QNB Group’s H1 2023 net profit jumps 8% to $2.1bn

QNB Group’s H1 2023 net profit jumps 8% to $2.1bn

Qatar National Bank (QNB) reported a net profit of $2.1bn (QAR7.6bn) in the first half of 2023, up 8 per cent from a year earlier, driven by a surge in operating income and total assets. QNB said its operating income jumped 14 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to reach QAR18.5bn in H1 2023 from QAR16.3bn in the same period last year due to growth across a range of revenue lines. The banking group’s deposit base rose by 5 per cent YoY to QAR836bn in the first half of the year, thanks to a substantial inflow of customer deposits. QNB’s loan-to-deposit ratio remained strong at 97.9 per cent as of June 30, 2023 – well within the regulatory limits. Meanwhile, the Qatari lender’s cost-to-income ratio stood at 20.4 per centH1 2023, “one of the best ratios among large financial institutions in the Middle East and Africa”. The ratio of non-performing loans (NPL) to gross loans stood at 2.9 per cent as of June 30, 2023, reflecting the high quality of the banking group’s loan book and the effective management of credit risk. However, has so far this year set aside QAR4.7bn “as provision for potential loan losses and NPL coverage ratio remained