Qatar National Bank profit rises 9% to $3.9bn in 2022

Reuters/Fadi Al-Assaad

Qatar National Bank (QNB), the Gulf’s biggest bank by assets, has reported a nine percent rise in annual net profit after adjusting for hyperinflation related to its business in Turkey.

Net profit for 2022 was QR14.3 billion ($3.91 billion) from QR13.2 billion in 2021. Full-year net profit before the impact of hyperinflation was QR16.1 billion, QNB said.

“Since the second quarter of 2022, QNB’s Turkey operations have been subject to hyperinflationary accounting requirements as per international financial reporting standards,” the lender said.

The non-cash adjustment, named “net monetary loss arising from hyperinflation”, was QR1.7 billion in 2022.

The bank’s profit for the quarter ended December 31 was roughly QR3.3 billion, according to Reuters calculations. Net profit in the same quarter a year earlier was QR2.95 billion.

The results beat analyst estimates, which expected the bank to report net profit of about QR13.7 billion in 2022, according to data from Refinitiv. EFG Hermes estimated fourth quarter net profit of QR2.96 billion.

QNB’s board recommended a cash dividend of QR0.6 per share.

Total assets were up nine percent from a year earlier to QR1.189 trillion. Loans and advances rose six percent to QR808 billion in the full year, while customer deposits were seven percent higher at QR842 billion.

QNB’s loans to deposit ratio slipped to 95.9 percent from 97.2 percent. Its non-performing loans ratio edged up to 2.9 percent from 2.3 percent, while the coverage ratio fell to 99 percent from 117 percent.