For the first time in the history of The Banker’s Top 1000 World Banks ranking, Qatar National Bank (QNB) has topped the regional table for the Middle East with $17.2bn in Tier 1 capital. This comes after the Qatari lender progressively narrowed the gap with Saudi Arabia’s National Commercial Bank, the long-time regional leader, over the past few years. QNB’s stellar growth has seen the bank emerge as a true giant in the Middle East and Africa region following a series of ambitious acquisitions including Société Générale’s Egyptian business in 2013, a stake in pan-African lender Ecobank in 2014 and Turkey’s Finansbank in 2016.
The remaining top five Middle Eastern lenders are the same as in the 2016 rankings. However, the headline merger of the National Bank of Abu Dhabi and FGB, two of Abu Dhabi’s largest banks, has not been taken into account in this year’s edition as it fell outside of the review period. Though the two banks occupy fifth and ninth positions, respectively, the rebranded entity, known as First Abu Dhabi Bank, may well rise in the rankings in 2018.
