Qatar National Bank (QNB Group) () is a

Qatari Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares its sole land border with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the ...

multinational

commercial bank A commercial bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and gives loans for the purposes of consumption and investment to make a profit. It can also refer to a bank or a division of a larger bank that deals with whol ...

headquartered in

Doha Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...

, Qatar. It was founded in 1964 and currently has subsidiaries and associates in 31 countries on three continents. The bank's ownership is evenly divided between the

Qatar Investment Authority The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA; ) is Qatar's sovereign wealth fund. The QIA was founded by the State of Qatar in 2005 to strengthen the country's economy by diversifying into new asset classes. In November 2024, the QIA had an estimated $526 ...

and members of the public.

History

QNB was founded on 6 June 1964 as the country's first domestically-owned

. It had 35 employees in its first year and was initially headquartered in a government-owned building in Qatar's capital city,

. The two currencies in circulation at the time were the

Indian rupee The Indian rupee (symbol: ₹; code: INR) is the official currency of India. The rupee is subdivided into 100 '' paise'' (Hindi plural; singular: ''paisa''). The issuance of the currency is controlled by the Reserve Bank of India. The Reserve ...

and

British pound Sterling (Currency symbol, symbol: Pound sign, £; ISO 4217, currency code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound is the main unit of account, unit of sterling, and the word ''Pound (cu ...

. As Qatar's population continued increasing through the century, QNB started establishing branches in other parts of the country. In 1974, the first branches outside of Doha were opened in

Al Khor Al Khor (; also spelled ''Al Khawr''), officially Al Khor and Al Thakhira, is a Municipalities of Qatar, municipality in northeastern Qatar. Al Khor (city), Al Khor City, the municipal seat, is located on the northeast coast of Qatar, around f ...

and

Mesaieed Mesaieed (, also transliterated as ''Umm Sa'id'') is an industrial city in Al Wakrah Municipality south of the Qatari capital Doha. It was one of the most important cities in Qatar during the 20th century, having gained recognition as a prime ...

. The bank installed its first ATMs in 1988 in its Doha branches, and introduced VISA cards for its clients the next year. In 2013, QNB established a branch in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

. In 2013, QNB acquired Egypt's then-largest private-sector bank, National Société Générale Bank, from

Société Générale Société Générale S.A. (), colloquially known in English-speaking countries as SocGen (), is a French multinational universal bank and financial services company founded in 1864. It is registered in downtown Paris and headquartered nearby i ...

, and rebranded it

QNB Al Ahli Qatar National Bank (QNB Group) () is a Qatari multinational commercial bank headquartered in Doha, Qatar. It was founded in 1964 and currently has subsidiaries and associates in 31 countries on three continents. The bank's ownership is evenly di ...

. By 2015, it had established 76 branches in Qatar. In 2016, QNB acquired Istanbul-based Finansbank from

National Bank of Greece The National Bank of Greece (NBG; ) is a banking and financial services company with its headquarters in Athens, Greece. Founded in 1841 as the newly independent country's first financial institution, it has long been the largest Greek bank, a ...

. As of 2017, QNB also owned an 82.59 percent stake in Bank QNB Indonesia. On September 30, 2020, net profit for 2020 was QR 9.5 billion (US$ 2.6 billion). Total assets also increased by 8% since September 30, 2019, to reach QR986 billion (US$271 billion). In 2024, QNB streamlined its brand identity in two of its main overseas markets, by phasing out the brands Al Ahli in Egypt and Finansbank in Turkey.

References

{{reflist Banks of Qatar Banks established in 1964 1964 establishments in Qatar Qatari brands Companies based in Doha Multinational companies headquartered in Qatar Companies listed on the Qatar Stock Exchange

History

See also

References