Qatar

Doha Bank, the third largest bank in Qatar’s booming economy, continues to produce outstanding results and through its focus on innovation, technology and performance has won the bank of the year for the second year running. Doha again produced exceptional growth in 2003, with net profits up 77% to reach $59m and return on equity rising from 17% to 23%. With Tier 1 capital up 36% and year-on-year asset growth up by 22%, 2003 was another excellent expansion year, backed up by improvements in the cost/income ratio (down to 30%) and provisions for non-performing loans (up to 78%). Besides growth and profitability Doha prides itself on technology and quality. It has introduced internet banking, maintained its position as the largest provider of ATMs in the country and launched new products such as equity services for Indian expatriate community and a ‘free for life’ credit card. The bank also is the first in the region with BS7799 security certification for bank operations and it has also achieved ISO 9001:2000 certification for its trade finance operations. “We value the needs of our diverse group customers and hence design financial packages having different customer segments in mind. This has helped us expand our loyal base of customers at a good rate. We can take pride in being the trend setter in Qatar in launching new products, services and consumer centric technology. All this has resulted in our having the best performance in Qatar in terms of growth and profitability consistently,” says Doha Bank chairman Fahad bin Mohamed Al-Thani.