FAB Leads on Reported Profit, QNB on Assets and Lending: MENA’s Two Largest Banks by Assets Compared in the First Half of 2026

By The Edge Research Team

First Abu Dhabi Bank and Qatar National Bank have both reported for the first six months of 2026, and the results present a more nuanced picture than a simple ranking of the two largest banks by assets in the Middle East and North Africa. At the end of June Qatar National Bank was the larger by total assets, and it kept by far the larger loan book and the bigger operating-income base, while First Abu Dhabi Bank recorded the higher reported net profit and a more diversified income mix. The comparison also carries an important qualification: Qatar National Bank disclosed an alternative measure, net profit before the impact of hyperinflation, of 11.1 billion riyals, which on our calculation is higher than First Abu Dhabi Bank’s reported profit once converted into dollars.

First Abu Dhabi Bank reported a first-half net profit attributable to shareholders of 10.73 billion dirhams, up about 1 percent from a year earlier, according to its interim financial statements, equivalent to roughly 2.92 billion dollars at the dirham’s peg. Qatar National Bank reported attributable net profit of 8.67 billion riyals, up 3.2 percent, according to the bank’s results carried by the Qatar News Agency, equivalent to about 2.38 billion dollars. First Abu Dhabi Bank therefore led on reported profit by roughly 540 million dollars, about 23 percent. Qatar National Bank separately disclosed net profit before the impact of hyperinflation of 11.1 billion riyals, up 12 percent and equal to about 3.05 billion dollars, higher than First Abu Dhabi Bank’s reported figure. First Abu Dhabi Bank did not publish a directly comparable adjusted measure, so Qatar National Bank’s pre-hyperinflation number is best used to explain the accounting effect on its results rather than as a like-for-like replacement for its reported profit, which remains 8.67 billion riyals.

Table 1: Profitability and income (H1 2026)

Qatar National Bank’s pre-hyperinflation figure is an alternative performance measure it discloses; First Abu Dhabi Bank did not publish a directly comparable adjusted measure, so the two are not a like-for-like comparison. First Abu Dhabi Bank’s cost-to-income ratio is our calculation from its operating income and expenses; Qatar National Bank’s is its reported efficiency ratio.

Table 2: Balance sheet as at 30 June 2026

Table 3: Asset quality and capital as at 30 June 2026

Local-currency figures are from the banks’ official results for the period ended 30 June 2026. Dollar figures and ratios are our calculation at the pegs of 3.6725 to the dirham and 3.64 to the riyal. The two banks’ impairment charges are discussed in the text rather than tabled, because the disclosed measures differ in scope, one group-wide and the other loan-related.

Similar scale, different balance sheets

The two banks are strikingly close in overall size, and at the end of June Qatar National Bank was the larger by assets. First Abu Dhabi Bank ended the half with total assets of 1.41 trillion dirhams, about 384 billion dollars, while Qatar National Bank reported 1.438 trillion riyals, up 6 percent on the year, or about 395 billion dollars, roughly 11 billion dollars ahead. The two remain the biggest banks by assets in the Middle East and North Africa, though the gap to the next tier has narrowed: Emirates NBD said its balance sheet had surpassed 1.3 trillion dirhams by the end of June, about 354 billion dollars, which on the rounded figure leaves it within roughly 8 percent of First Abu Dhabi Bank.

Where the two leaders clearly diverge is in the shape of the balance sheet. Qatar National Bank carries much the larger lending book, with loans and advances of 1.042 trillion riyals at the end of June, up 8 percent on the year, against First Abu Dhabi Bank’s 661 billion dirhams. Converted at the pegs, Qatar National Bank’s loan book of about 286 billion dollars is roughly 106 billion dollars, or about 59 percent, larger than First Abu Dhabi Bank’s 180 billion dollars, even though its total assets are only marginally bigger. Loans represented about 72 percent of Qatar National Bank’s assets, on our calculation, against roughly 47 percent at First Abu Dhabi Bank, confirming that Qatar National Bank operates the more loan-intensive balance sheet.

What drives the reported profit gap

The reported result is more nuanced than a simple comparison of operating scale. Qatar National Bank in fact generated the larger operating-income base, about 24.1 billion riyals, roughly 6.6 billion dollars, against First Abu Dhabi Bank’s 19.5 billion dirhams, about 5.3 billion dollars, yet First Abu Dhabi Bank reported the higher bottom line. The disclosures point to a combination of factors: First Abu Dhabi Bank’s larger contribution from non-interest income, which came to about 8.0 billion dirhams, roughly 41 percent of operating income; its lower cost-to-income ratio, about 22 percent on our calculation against Qatar National Bank’s reported 24.1 percent; and differing impairment, tax and accounting effects. Most important among the last of these, Qatar National Bank’s disclosed profit before the impact of hyperinflation exceeded its reported profit by about 2.43 billion riyals, so the net impact of hyperinflation accounting is central to understanding the reported earnings ranking. These figures support such explanations as contributing factors, but they do not provide a fully harmonised bridge between the two banks’ reported profits.

The funding picture reinforces the contrast in models. Qatar National Bank’s customer deposits rose 4 percent on the year to 973 billion riyals, about 267 billion dollars, against First Abu Dhabi Bank’s 853 billion dirhams, about 232 billion dollars. On our calculation Qatar National Bank’s loans were equivalent to about 107 percent of its customer deposits, against about 78 percent at First Abu Dhabi Bank. A loan-to-deposit ratio above 100 percent does not in itself signal funding stress for a large international bank with access to wholesale markets, but it shows that Qatar National Bank leans relatively more on funding beyond its core deposits, including interbank and capital-market funding, while First Abu Dhabi Bank keeps a larger customer-deposit cushion relative to its loans.

Credit costs move in opposite directions

Provisioning trends moved in opposite directions, though the disclosed measures are not directly comparable. First Abu Dhabi Bank’s consolidated net impairment charge rose about 39 percent to 2.05 billion dirhams, with the bank noting that it had enhanced its management overlays in an evolving operating environment. Qatar National Bank’s loan-related impairment expense, by contrast, fell about 12 percent to 3.88 billion riyals, although the bank raised the weighting attached to its downside economic scenario to 30 percent from 15 percent. Because the two figures differ in scope, one group-wide and the other loan-related, they are best read as directional indicators of credit costs rather than a like-for-like comparison. Both banks reported contained credit metrics: First Abu Dhabi Bank a non-performing loan ratio of 2.2 percent with a CET1 capital ratio of 13.7 percent, and Qatar National Bank a non-performing loan ratio of 2.5 percent with loan-loss coverage of about 99 percent, a CET1 ratio of 15.6 percent and total capital adequacy of 19.8 percent, pointing to solid buffers at both.

Why it matters: First Abu Dhabi Bank and Qatar National Bank are, between them, the anchors of banking in the Middle East and North Africa, each managing close to 400 billion dollars in assets, and their results are a useful gauge of the region’s financial health. That both are still growing profit and expanding their balance sheets points to resilient underlying demand for credit across the region and to lenders that remain well capitalised. For the Gulf and the wider region, a banking sector led by two institutions of this size, with Emirates NBD close behind, underlines the depth of financial capacity now sitting within it, capacity that supports sovereign and corporate borrowing, infrastructure financing and the diversification programmes that governments across the region continue to pursue.

Outlook: The second-half direction for both will hinge on the path of interest rates, the pace of lending growth in their home markets and the trajectory of credit costs, alongside the impact of hyperinflation accounting on Qatar National Bank’s reported earnings. Qatar National Bank enters the period with faster loan growth and the larger revenue base, while First Abu Dhabi Bank’s more diversified mix and lower cost ratio leave it well placed on reported profitability. On our reading the ordering at the top of the regional table is close, but at 30 June Qatar National Bank was the larger by assets and lending while First Abu Dhabi Bank led on reported profit.

Sources: First Abu Dhabi Bank, condensed consolidated interim financial information and H1 2026 results release; Qatar National Bank, interim financial statements and H1 2026 results release; Emirates NBD, H1 2026 results release; Qatar News Agency.

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