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Tribune News Network
Doha
QNB Group has maintained its ranking as the most valuable banking brand in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region, according to the annual survey carried out by Brand Finance .
The survey was published by The Banker magazine, an affiliate to the internationally acclaimed Financial Times newspaper, confirming the QNB brand among the World's Top 500 Banking Brands, the bank said in a release on Saturday.
Highlighting the extent of its top performance in 2017, QNB witnessed the value of its brand increase to $3.82 billion compared to last year, representing an increase of 56 percent to rise to the 60th place globally, in addition to attaining the highest rating of AA+ in brand strength, making it the only Qatari banking brand among the world's top 100.
This milestone is testament to the combination of continuing robust financial performance and successful international expansion of a brand that now operates in more than 30 countries across three continents, QNB said in statement.
This year is also the first time that QNB appears in the Brand Finance Global 500 which covers the world's most valuable brands from across all countries and sectors. QNB Group is the only financial brand from the Middle East and Africa to be included among the top 500 and is the only Qatari brand from any sector to make the list.
The group's financial results and its strong performance during 2016 had also a positive impact on its brand value ranking. Net Profit reached QR12.4 billion ($3.4 billion), up by 10 percent from the previous year. Total assets reached QR720 billion ($198 billion), up by 34 percent from December 2015, the best absolute results in QNB Group's history, and credit ratings remained amongst the highest experienced across the Middle East and Africa region.
Of particular significance to brand value and reach in 2017 was QNB's strategic acquisition of a 99.88 percent stake in Finansbank (now rebranded as QNB Finansbank), the fifth-largest privately owned universal bank in Turkey by total assets, customer deposits and loans.
Commenting on the bank's brand value achievement, Yousef Darwish, General Manager, QNB Group Communications, said,"The accomplishment of this ranking is the result of the steps that the Group has followed during the last years and until the end of this year, and we are proud to be one of the leading banking brands today."
David Haigh, CEO of Brand Finance, said,"In recent years QNB has worked diligently, determined to become an iconic brand in the Middle East and Africa by 2017."
He stressed that the outstanding performance and strong growth in 2016 had helped QNB realise its vision of becoming a 2017 MEA Icon, and that building on QNB's continued success, QNB Group has embarked on the aspiration of becoming"a leading bank in the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia (MEASEA) by 2020".
