Maintaining growth in all its portfolios Doha Bank posted a first quarter net profit of QR390mn, up 7.4% on QR363mn registered in the same period in 2011. Doha Bank's Q1 results were announced by chairman Sheikh Fahad bin Mohamed bin Jabor al-Thani after a meeting of the board of directors. Sheikh Fahad said Doha Bank's loans and advances grew by 13.1% to reach QR29.5bn in March 2012, from QR26.1bn in the same period last year. Total assets increased by QR5.9bn, a growth of more than 12.8%, from QR46.4bn in March 2011 to QR52.4bn in March 2012. Customer deposits and unrestricted investment accounts increased to QR31.4bn in Q1, 2012 from QR28.1bn in the same period last year. This shows a growth of 11.8%, evidencing Doha Bank's “strong liquidity position". Doha Bank managing director Sheikh Abdul Rehman bin Mohamed bin Jabor al-Thani said, “The bank has become extremely strong over the years with shareholders' funds totaling QR6.6bn in March, registering an increase of 6.7% during the last 12 months. Through the strategic utilization of the shareholder's funds by way of increasing our performance levels the return on average equity (ROAE) was 24.6% in March 2012, which is one of the best in the industry. “Doha Bank, given the scale of operations, has achieved a very high return on the average assets of 3% in March 2012, which is a clear demonstration of the effective utilization of shareholder's funds and optimum asset allocation strategies". Doha Bank Group CEO R Seetharaman said the ROAE of 24.6% “is the very best" in the industry, Gulf Times reported.
