QNB
QNB is determined to put itself at the heart of the growing two-way trade flows between the Middle East and Asia. And it is succeeding, thanks to its expanding network of branches in China, India, Indonesia, Vietnam and Singapore.
Over the last year, the Doha-based bank has been busy offering a host of flexible services to clients across both regions. When Ithaafushi Investments was looking for $134 million to fund a new hotel and resort in the Maldives, QNB’s Singapore branch stepped up. And when AsiaCell and Zain, telecoms operators based respectively in Iraq and Kuwait, needed capital to do business with China’s Huawei, they turned to QNB.
The lender, which established its first branch in Singapore in 2008, now offers a host of banking services from its offices in the southeast Asian city-state to Middle East clients looking to do business in Asia, from trade and project finance to cash management and payroll.
QNB clearly sees Asia as a key part of its long-term growth strategy. When some Middle East states cut ties with Qatar in June 2017, bank chief executive Ali Ahmed Al-Kuwari reacted positively by promising to “push more into southeast Asia”, where QNB aims to be a leading lender by 2020.
The CEO also outlined plans to open new offices in Hong Kong and India, and to convert its representative office in Shanghai into a fully operational branch.
The Middle East’s biggest bank by assets also aims to cut the amount of income it generates from its domestic market to 50% by 2020, from 63% at the end of June 2017, with much of the new business coming from – and in – Asia.