Doha Bank
In line with Qatar’s booming economy, Doha Bank has produced breathtaking results in recent years, achieving a record 115% profit growth in 2005 and a huge 49.9% RoE, up from 37.4% the previous year. In 2005, the bank focused on improving fee-based services, including bancassurance and e-remittances to multiple countries, and launched an Islamic banking unit, Doha Islamic, with a full range of products.
Doha Bank has expanded its corporate finance and project finance advisory services, and collaborated with ING and SBI Capital on wealth management, asset management and structured products. It expanded its branch network by six new branches, bringing the total to 31 branches; and, in September, it announced plans to open a branch in Dubai and representative offices in Turkey, Singapore and Japan.
The bank continued its strong performance, with 27.1% growth in net profits in the first half of 2006. Moody’s Investor Service upgraded its ratings based on the bank’s financial fundamentals and strengthened franchise.
“The Banker award is a reflection of our performance, growth and passion for customer care, and commitment to adopting best international standards,” says Deputy CEO R Seetharaman. “We have been focusing on a multi-pronged strategy for growth, such as prudent asset allocation, diversified revenue streams, local and international expansion, product innovation and technology deployment. This has resulted in a threefold growth of shareholder equity, and sixfold growth in net profit in the past three years, in addition to achieving the best RoE and return-on-assets ratios in the market.
