Aided by its robust corporate banking, International Bank of Qatar (IBQ) – which is in the midst of a three-way merger with Masraf Al Rayan and Barwa Bank – has reported a 20% jump year-on-year in net profit to QR278mn in the first half of this year.
The bank, whose total operating income grew 17%, has continued to derisk its balance sheet and reduce its reliance on wholesale interbank funding, its spokesman said.
These factors coupled with the current situation has seen some contraction in total assets, even though loans and advances remained stable, while the bank continues to rely on client deposits and deepening relationships to fund its asset book, said IBQ,  which enjoys an ‘A+’ rating from Fitch and an ‘A2’ from Moody’s.
“This strong set of results is the outcome of IBQ’s focus on deepening its exceptional client franchise, maintaining conservative risk management, and delivering consistently high standards of service quality to its customers,” its managing director Omar Bouhadiba said.
As it progresses into the second half of 2017, IBQ’s liquidity remains comfortable and the bank’s deal pipeline firm, he said, adding the lender continues to invest in its infrastructure to enable it to deliver better client solutions, upgrade its IT systems, and continuously improve its security platforms to ensure client data is safeguarded.
“While navigating the unchartered waters produced by the recent external geopolitical events has been a challenge, we believe that Qatari banks remain solid institutions with adequate liquidity, experienced management and strong capital ratios. They are perfectly able to overcome any difficulty that may arise from these unusual circumstances,” he said.
The bank’s asset quality has remained stable with the non-performing loan ratio at 1.19%. Its net interest margin, return on average assets and most operating metrics continued to improve and the bank’s return on average equity now stands at a healthy 12.3% compared to 10.8% last year.
“All business segments contributed positively to the total operating income result with corporate banking delivering a stellar set of first half results,” the spokesman said.
Expenses continued to be tightly managed with the cost-to-income ratio showing a 13% reduction from last year, as the lender successfully controlled the day-to-day operating model while retaining oversight on good corporate governance.