#Qatar’s Third-Biggest Bank Says It’s in Turkey for ‘Long Haul’ - Bloomberg

Qatar’s Third-Biggest Bank Says It’s in Turkey for ‘Long Haul’ - Bloomberg

Commercial Bank of Qatar is committed to its business in Turkey for “the long haul” and will focus on building its operations there, according to the top executive at the lender.

“We are focusing on building it and improving the return on equity,” Group Chief Executive Officer Joseph Abraham said in a Bloomberg TV interview Thursday. CBQ has spent the last few years turning the business around, with its non-performing loans better than the market’s average, he said.

CBQ is currently Qatar’s third-largest lender by assets, though a combination between Masraf Al Rayan QSC and Al Khalij Commercial Bank PQSC could knock it down a notch. It took full ownership of Alternatifbank AS in 2016 and has had to undertake several rounds of capital increases since then to support the Turkish unit’s growth plans.

Turkish banks are at risk of an increase in NPLs after being pressured into extending more credit to keep the economy afloat through a currency crisis and lockdown restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of Covid-19. The outlook for the industry is shifting, however, following a dramatic change in policy making last November, after the central bank governor was fired by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the resignation of his son-in-law as finance minister.