By Santhosh V Perumal/Business Reporter


Ahlibank yesterday said it is “modest but optimistic” about the top line growth of the country’s banking industry despite weaker crude.
“We don’t think that there will be slowdown of growth (in the banking industry) because Qatar is managing its fiscal position in a very intelligent way and therefore we are optimistic that we will be recording positive growth,” Ahlibank CEO Salah Murad told reporters. Speaking on the sidelines of the annual general assembly, he said one needs to be “modest” in the estimation of 2015 taking into consideration the oil price.
Oil price have now considerably fallen from their highs in view of the supply glut and increased production from the US.
A sustained drop in oil prices could also have “pronounced negative” effects on public spending, confidence and economic growth, the global rating agency Moody’s said, adding “this in turn could lead to reduced loan growth and profitability” in the Gulf Cooperation Council banking sector.
Although Moody’s was of the view that the Gulf lenders may face lower deposits from government and government-related entities in view of low oil prices, Murad said the bank’s capital adequacy ratio is now around 16% with most of it being Tier I.
Highlighting that the bank had recently gone for syndicated financing facility; he said “we are complying with Basel III.”
Ahlibank had late last year closed a three-year $200mn syndicated term loan facility, which it said will be used for general corporate funding purposes.
The loan facility carries a margin of 120 basis points over Libor. Although Murad said the bank had to “pay a little extra cost”; it was worth the long term strategy.
The annual general meeting approved the board’s recommendation of 15% cash dividend and the extraordinary general assembly saw the approval of 10% stock issue for 2014.
“We are looking forward to the years ahead with optimism, always looking to reward our shareholders for the trust they have placed in our bank,” according to Sheikh Faisal bin AbdulAziz bin Jassem al-Thani, chairman and managing director.
Murad said the bank would be focusing on three areas this year with special emphasis on the branch network strengthening and further product development as well enhancing its technology platform to allow its mobile banking to penetrate more into the market. The bank is also strengthening its governance framework, he added.