Sheikh Mohamad and al-Subeai: Integrated plan to better serve stakeholders and investors.

Driven by healthy growth and diversification across its portfolio of products and services, Barwa Bank has reported a net profit of QR412mn for the first half of 2015. Earnings per share rose to QR1.39 from QR1.38 over the same period last year.
Underlined by sizeable growth across its financing assets and investment securities, the bank’s total assets soared by 16% to QR41.3bn for the first half of the year, while financing assets alone registered a 10% increase to exceed QR24.4bn.
Customer deposits for the same period increased by 4% to QR23.2bn owing to the bank’s “strong focus” on product and service development and integration across business segments, as well as to a heavy push on tech-driven innovation.
Barwa Bank Group chairman Sheikh Mohamad bin Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani said: “This past year presented the regional banking industry with a great deal of positive challenges. The impact of the drop in oil prices has left a dent on some balance sheets but has also pushed governments, private conglomerates, and financial institutions to refocus investments away from the hydrocarbon sector and into emerging growth sectors.
“The Qatari banking sector was not insulated from this environment. It has, however, gained momentum on the back of strong economic growth and diversification led by the Qatar National Vision 2030. In this transforming context, we were able to, once again, stretch our objectives forward as we solidify our presence in and outside of Qatar, move with speed and purpose, and integrate our products and services across disciplines to better serve our stakeholders and investors.”
Barwa Bank Group acting Group CEO Khalid Yousef al-Subeai said: “The Group’s results in the first half of 2015 lay on solid foundations that have been driving our performance and track record over the past years. Our strategy remains focused on operational efficiency, process streamlining, integration, and crossover of our core banking products and services.
“Nowhere has this strategy been more evident than in the first-half results, which yielded an increase in the total revenue by 7% in 2014, bringing cost to revenue ratio down to 39% from 40%, making, in parallel, a major push on the collection of non-performing assets, which shrunk to 1.6% of the total financing assets, compared with 1.8% as of December 2014.”
He added: “We will continue to drive profitability and efficiency across our operations as Qatar ushers in a new era of infrastructural investments. We see in this transitional period ample prospects and opportunities for our business, and equally great returns for our stakeholders.”