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Tribune News Network
Doha
The Qatar Central Bank hopes a planned merger between Masraf Al Rayan, Barwa Bank and International Bank of Qatar (ibq) can proceed this year, Governor Sheikh Abdulla bin Saud al Thani said on Tuesday, in his clearest show of support for the deal so far.
However, Sheikh Abdulla also said in a newspaper interview that the deal would depend on other factors, such as shareholder support and the central bank was waiting for a report by financial advisers before taking action on the merger.
"A successful merger will create a solid lender with more than QR180 billion of assets," Sheikh Abdulla told the Arabic-language Lusail newspaper.
The banks in Qatar, he said, were the first in the region to implement the requirements of Basel II and Basel III in response to QCB's instructions.
Basel standards are an internationally agreed set of measures developed by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision in response to the financial crisis of 2007-09.
"The current status and the banks' compliance with the Basel requirements indicate that they are ready for the implementation of Basel IV," the QCB governor was quoted as saying. The final decision on it will be taken once the Basel Committee formally issues the standards, he added.
Sheikh Abdulla said QCB, in 2008, issued the first edition of corporate governance for banks to ensure their commitment to the principles of governance, in particular to those on combating money-laundering and terrorism financing.
The bank improved and updated these instructions more than once, most recently in July 2015. The comprehensive instructions are consistent with the latest international practices in this field, such as the OECD and the Basel Rules, and include a special section for Islamic banks.
The Qatari insurance sector, Sheikh Abdulla said, has seen remarkable growth in the last decade, with steady acceleration in the past five years. The total insurance premiums in Qatar increased from QR11.3 billion in 2015 to QR12.6 billion in 2016.
Not just banks and insurance firms, event the exchange companies are on sound footing in Qatar. The QCB governor noted that their combined total assets stood at QR1.9 billion at the end of 2017, representing a growth of 27 percent from 2016. He said there were opportunities for further growth in 2018 in light of the economic development of the country.
Eighteen banks, including seven branches of foreign banks, operate under the supervision of QCB, he said, adding that their total assets amounted to QR1373.9 billion at the end of 2017 as opposed to QR1271.7 billion at the end of 2016 — an increase of nearly QR 102.2 billion or 8 percent.
The property rights of these banks, he said, jumped QR11.4 billion or 8.1 percent to QR151.8 billion at the end of 2017 from QR140.4 billion in 2016.
