Bank Street
Doha: Eight Qatari banks have been ranked among ’50 Most Valuable Banks 2023’ list in the Middle East by Forbes magazine.
The list includes QNB Group, Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), Masraf Al Rayan, Commercial Bank, Qatar International Islamic Bank (QIIB), Dukhan Bank, Ahlibank, and Doha Bank who have made it to the ranking of the top banks in their respective categories in April’s issue of Forbes Middle East.
Qatar’s eight banks have a market value of $81.3bn, among which, QNB Group ranked third in ’50 Most Valuable Banks 2023’. “QNB is the largest bank in Qatar and is a Qatari-owned commercial bank, with 51.93 percent owned by the Qatar Investment Authority. The group has a presence in more than 28 countries across three continents. It employs 28,000 people serving over 27 million customers,” noted the April 2023 issue of the magazine.
The next on the list according to Forbes Middle East April 2023 issue was QIB which ranked 12th. It has 23 branches in Qatar and one branch in Sudan, with investments in the UK and Lebanon. The group has stakes in a number of Qatari Shariah-compliant financial services companies, including QInvest, Beema, and Al Jazeera Finance.
Masraf Al Rayan came 20th in the ranking, while Commercial Bank ranked 21st, QIIB (26), Dukhan Bank (28), Ahli Bank (35), and Doha Bank (44).
The magazine stated, “Our list of the region’s most valuable banks features entities from 10 markets. The 50 banks had an aggregate market value of $548.1bn as of February 28. GCC banks dominate with 41 entries, representing 82 percent of the list. Saudi Arabia and the UAE are the most represented countries, with 10 entries each.”
“Saudi Arabia’s 10 most valuable banks have an aggregate market value of $223.5bn. The UAE’s 10 entries are worth $121.2bn, and Kuwait’s seven entries are worth $76.2bn. Saudi Al Rajhi Bank tops the list with a market cap of $75bn, followed by Saudi National Bank with $56.4bn,” it added.
According to a report by Moody’s, GCC banks are resilient to the US banks’ distress, thanks to broad franchises and their sovereign footprint. The report also referred to the rapid growth of Islamic finance across GCC banking systems, adding that deposits at these banks are lower cost than at conventional banks and support the banks’ profitability at times of high-interest rates.
