Qatar First Bank’s extraordinary general meeting yesterday adopted a special resolution to approve the bank’s board of directors share capital reduction recommendation.
The QFB board had earlier proposed to reduce the bank’s authorised and paid up capital by 50% in an effort to meet listing requirements, offset accumulated losses and raise net asset valuations per share.
This was in accordance with regulatory requirements by the Qatar Financial Markets Authority (QFMA), Qatar Financial Centre rules and other applicable laws. The bank will now seek to fulfil the necessary regulatory and legal arrangements to effect the capital reduction recommendation.
Another special resolution was passed approving certain alterations to the articles of association in accordance with the new corporate governance regulations issued by the QFMA.
QFB chairman Abdulla bin Fahad bin Ghorab al-Marri said, “At QFB we were not immune to the prevailing macro-economic conditions. Such net loss was mainly driven by global and regional headwinds resulting from prevailing market uncertainties that affected the performance of the bank’s alternative investments portfolio.
“We will seek to obtain the required approvals on the proposed capital reduction plan that will play a significant role in our growth. Our outlook is very firm and optimistic. The launch of revised strategy and appointment of new Board of Directors and management team will definitely boost our performance and accelerate momentum of coming back into the green.”
Financial year 2018 was the most challenging year for the bank as it reported a net loss of QR482mn along with a disposal loss and loss on fair value remeasurement of equity investments of QR331mn during the year.
Meanwhile, QFB’s board, chaired by al-Marri, along with shareholders and attendees of the AGM and EGM, discussed and approved, the bank’s audited financial results and its performance in 2018.
Some 10 board members were elected by the shareholders through the “cumulative voting process” in accordance with the applicable rules and regulations. The new board consists of the following; Sheikh Faisal Thani al-Thani, Abdulla Fahad Ghorab al-Marri, Dr Mohamed Nasser Mohamed al-Qahtani, Abdel Latif Mohamed al-Sada, Salman Abdulghani, Ibrahim Jaidah, Mohamed Reslan al-Khayat, Mohamed Yousef al-Mana, Salem al-Marri and Mohamed al-Hajiri.
The bank will now seek to fulfil the necessary regulatory and legal arrangements to incorporate the changes of membership in its board of directors.
Al-Marri (second left) and other directors at QFB shareholders’ meeting in Doha yesterday. PICTURE: Nasar K Moideen
