(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The Peninsula
DOHA: Qatar First Bank, a leading Shari'ah compliant bank based in Qatar and listed on the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE), has released its financial results for the nine-month period ended 30th September 2018 recording a net loss of QR425.5m.
Ayman Zaidan, Head of Treasury and Investment Management, said: 'After a challenging nine months with global and regional headwinds, QFB recorded a net loss of QR425.5 million where prevailing market uncertainties are among the major concerns for the reduction in banks revenue.
QFB's ambitious cost rationalisation plan initiated in first half of 2016 continue to generate positive results by reducing staff cost, other operating expenses and finance cost by 29.8 percent, 12.5 percent and 9.6 percent, respectively compared to nine-month period in 2017.
Other income increased mainly due to fair value of shari'ah complaint risk management instruments and fee income from the structured products. The bank is continuing its programme of creating liquidity from private equity portfolio while working with partners on new opportunities in developed markets that will be seeded and managed by QFB, he said.
Ayman added significant progress has been made with the bank's new strategy evidenced by the exit of its investment in Memorial. Furthermore, the bank is in the discussion process to realise additional exits from investments in English Home and Kuwait Energy following the execution of definitive agreements.
On the other hand, the bank's Treasury and Investment management arm is keen on increasing the bank's assets under management by multiple deal-by-deal transactions through direct sourcing and structuring while ensuring prudent liquidity management measures.
QFB continues to remain prudent on the global investment market conditions and remain focused on its core capabilities & expertise in private equity, real estate and private banking fronts which leads to create more profitable business opportunities to fuel bank's growth, he said.
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