Qatar First Bank posted a profit of QR12.3mn in the first three months of this year, QFB said yesterday.
In the same period last year QFB had registered a profit of QR3.2mn.
“However, in line with the accounting standards and best practices in place by regional and international banks, and in view of the global macroeconomic conditions, one-time reserve provisions have been made in order to confront the risks of the Covid-19 crisis. This resulted in a recoded net loss of QR191.6mn, arising from making these Covid-19 conservative provisions, which amounted to QR203.9mn,” QFB said.
Additionally, in line with bank’s adopted strategy on cost efficiency, total expenses were decreased by 15% to QR22.9mn compared to same period of 2019.
Setting aside Covid-19 “negative” impact, total income also increased by 7% to QR34.2mn.
QFB chairman Sheikh Faisal bin Thani al-Thani said, “Despite the bank’s good operational performance over the first quarter where the overall adopted strategy objectives were realised, the unexpected crisis of the Covid-19 had a significant negative impact on the announced results.
“It entailed one-off provisions in line with the best practices in place by regional and international banks, however, the good operational results is a clear indication of the success of the new strategy and its profitability even in light of these unfavorable and unprecedented macroeconomic conditions. The success of the strategy invites us to adopt an optimistic outlook for the bank and its business model.”
Furthermore, fee income from structured products has increased by 27% compared with the same period of 2019. QFB will continue to harness the opportunities created through revised strategy where the key priority will be sustainable organic growth of the bank’s customer base of high net worth individuals, institutional investors and government related entities, the bank said.
The bank said it is currently working on developing new products and exploring good investment opportunities. It also aims to enhance product portfolio and diversify investment options it offers to customers. It extremely exercise due diligence to assess, review and analyse any variables that arise from changing macroeconomic conditions in order to achieve discounted acquisitions of assets as good opportunities are usually availed in times of crisis.
