Qatari bank trebles provisions

The Commercial Bank of Qatar, the country’s largest private bank, saw provisions on bad loans and investments almost treble in the first half of the year as consumer debt defaults spread to the country with the highest GDP per capita in the Gulf.

The company reported its results as banks across the region come under increasing scrutiny because of rising loan defaults from customers unable to repay debt incurred during the boom years.

The bank took 254 million rials (Dh256m) in provisions in the first half. Of that, it set aside 105m rials for potential losses on its personal loan portfolio. It set aside another 97m rials to make up for corporate customers who did not pay back their loans. The remaining 52m rials went to offset declines on its investments.