QNB Group’s board of directors has approved a share buyback program of up to $796.7 million (QAR2.9 billion) as part of the evolution of the banking group’s disciplined capital distribution and allocation policy.
The share buyback will be executed after obtaining regulatory approvals from the Qatar Central Bank and Qatar Financial Markets Authority.
The decision to initiate a repurchase of QNB’s shares arose after careful consideration of several factors, including current and future shareholders expectations, strength of QNB Group’s financial position, growth strategy, strong return on equity, high quality and superior earnings, financial ratios associated with equity and liquidity, and continued confidence of the investor community.
QNB’s share buyback is a confidence-building measure that is expected to raise investors’ trust in QNB’s robust capital allocation process, improve market liquidity, and enhance returns.
QNB Group intends to fund its share buyback from its retained earnings and surplus liquid funds available with QNB.
Despite share repurchases, QNB Group will continue to hold robust capital buffers, well above regulatory minimums of QCB and Basel III requirements, and does not anticipate any material impact on its capital and other ratios.
The share buyback will be conducted using an open market repurchase mechanism as per applicable Qatar Financial Markets Authority rules and regulations.
