His Excellency Sheikh Fahad Bin Mohammad Bin Jabor Al-Thani, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Doha Bank, announced Doha Bank’s financial results for the first quarter of 2015. Net profit for the first quarter of 2015 recorded an impressive QAR 420 million as compared to QAR 399 million for the same period in 2014 showing an increase of 5.2%. H.E. Sheikh Fahad said “This is another outstanding result and is clear demonstration that Doha Bank continues to perform consistently.”
The Bank increased net operating income by 2.3% to QAR 714 million. Total assets increased by QAR 4.1 billion, a growth of 6%, from QAR 70.1 billion as at 31 March 2014 to QAR 74.2 billion as at 31 March 2015. Net loans and advances increased to QAR 50.8 billion as at 31 March 2015 from QAR 43.4 billion for the same period last year, registering a growth of more than 17%. Customer deposits showed a year on year increase of 4% from QAR 43.5 billion to QAR 45.2 billion as at 31 March 2015 which is evidence of 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 total equity, as at 31 March 2015, at QAR 10.7 billion, registering an increase of 1.2% during the last twelve months. Through the strategic utilisation of the shareholder’s funds by way of increasing our performance levels the return on average shareholders’ equity is 19.7% as at 31 March 2015 one of the best in the industry. The Bank, given the scale of operations, has achieved a very high return on the average assets of 2.25% as at 31 March 2015 which is a clear demonstration of the effective utilization of shareholder’s funds and optimum asset allocation strategies”.
Due to the Bank’s strategy to innovate, diversify and capitalize on market synergies, Doha Bank continues to report strong results. Dr. R. Seetharaman, Chief Executive Officer of Doha Bank, highlighted that the Extra Ordinary General Assembly meeting of the shareholders of Doha Bank held on 4th March 2015, had unanimously approved the issuance of Tier 1 Capital Instruments amounting to QAR 2 billion on or before 30th June 2015, subject to necessary regulatory approvals. The shareholders also approved issuance of Debt Notes ‘Bonds’ using Doha Bank EMTN Programme, subject to further regulatory approvals from relevant authorities. Earlier during the year, the General Assembly approved and distributed 40% cash dividend to the shareholders. In line with the Bank’s International expansion strategy, Doha Bank opened its 12th Representative Office in South Africa.
Doha Bank also completed the process of Amalgamation of the India Operations of the HSBC Bank Oman S.A.O.G as at the close of business on March 31, 2015 and have taken over the operations of their two branches in Mumbai and Kochi on a going concern basis.
Throwing light on the key innovations, achievements and initiatives by Doha Bank in the first quarter of 2015, Dr. R. Seetharaman said “In testament to Doha Bank’s commitment to offer its customer the latest in digital banking, Doha Bank launched its digitized account opening solution – ‘Tablet Banking’. This is the ‘first’ in Qatar initiative. The new account opening process is engineered with a contemporary twist and will attend to the customers’ banking needs, whereby customers can open an account and receive their debit card instantly at Doha Bank branch. In commemoration of International Women’s Day, Doha Bank also launched an exclusive ladies banking package – ‘Al Asriya’. The package includes a ladies account, which can be opened for as low as QAR 5,000, a special pink floral designed credit card and a complimentary health insurance cover.”
In yet another year of offering life-changing rewards and opportunities for its customers, Doha Bank launched its flagship ‘Al Dana Savings Scheme’ for the year 2015. Now in its 12th year, the scheme will offer a wider range of rewards, with 6 millionaire draws lined up for the year. On the back of its continued success in 2014, Doha Bank extended its dining offers on preferred restaurants and cafes in Qatar. Doha Bank is the first and only bank to publish a ‘Repeat Customer Index’ which keeps track of how many Doha Bank cardholders regularly visit a particular restaurant to enjoy dining out. During this quarter, Doha Bank announced the winners of the ‘Win your loan back’ campaign, which offered customers an opportunity to wipe off their loan.
In line with Qatar National Vision and promoting the local pool of qualified talent, Doha Bank has participated in various career fairs organized by Education City as well as Qatar University. Doha Bank received huge interest from the candidates and looks forward to bringing the best talent on board and grooming them to hold leadership positions in the organization. Further, to promote staff team spirit as well as encourage ‘sports’ culture within the organization, Doha Bank organized a staff cricket tournament.
Doha Bank hosted the SME customer meet related to the projects financed under Al Dhameen Guarantee program of Qatar Development Bank. Doha Bank also hosted knowledge sharing sessions on various topics encompassing ‘Synergetic opportunities between emerging Asia and the GCC’, ‘Japan electronics technology forum for sustainable development’, and ‘Economic integration towards a borderless world’, in Kuwait and Qatar.
Doha Bank was identified as the provider of the best products and services available in Banking and Finance in the following categories by the Banker Middle East – ‘Best SME Customer Service Award’, ‘Best SME Card’, ‘Best Trade Finance Offering’, ‘Best Corporate Account’ and ‘Best Home Finance Account’. In testament to Qatar’s ability to provide support to the banking sector, as well as reflecting Doha Bank’s ability to maintain strong growth trajectory – total asset growth, loan growth and deposit growth year-on-year, Doha Bank’s LT IDR credit rating was upgraded to A+ from A by Fitch Ratings.
As part of Doha Bank’s commitment to raise awareness of sustainable development issues among students through school and community action, Doha Bank presented select schools with ECO-Schools Programme awards. The awards recognized schools that played an active role in propagating the concept of eco-consciousness amongst students and demonstrated a high degree of innovation and creativity in successfully completing their green projects as part of the Programme. In recognition of the strong CSR commitment, Doha Bank received the ‘Golden Peacock Global Award for Corporate Social Responsibility’.