Doha Bank plans to raise capital

KUWAIT CITY: Doha Bank plans to raise additional capital in 2015 to underpin fast asset growth and potential acquisitions, the chief executive of Qatar’s fourth-largest bank by assets said.
The bank is looking at several options to raise capital, such as a rights issue, CEO R. Seetharaman told reporters at a news conference in Kuwait City.
“If our organic expansion is per the growth model we envisage, then we will need additional capital, which we will mobilize next year,” he said.
Both Doha Bank and Commercial Bank of Qatar COMB.QA may need to raise as much as 1.5 billion riyals ($412 million) of Tier 1 — or core — capital in 2015 to help meet stringent limits set down by the Qatar Central Bank, Morgan Stanley said in an analyst note this week.
While Qatari banks have formally adopted Basel III international regulations this year, Morgan Stanley expects Qatar’s central bank to impose higher capital requirements that could go up to 16 percent of risk-weighted assets in 2019.
Doha Bank’s asset expansion was more than 20 percent last year and will continue to grow Seetharaman said, citing the lender’s new license in India. Doha Bank will be commissioning a new branch there in six months time, he said.
“It could be a strain or a stress on the capital adequacy if the (asset) growth is over 25 percent,” said Seetharaman.
He said the 1.5 billion riyal estimate from Morgan Stanley was speculative and that the amount would depend upon the bank’s balance sheet and potential acquisitions.
“It is not necessarily 1.5 (billion riyals). If I have an acquisition opportunity, perhaps I may go faster,” he added.
Doha Bank already raised its Tier 1 capital in December through a 2 billion riyal bond issue.
It followed that with the acquisition of HSBC Bank Oman’s Indian business last month for an undisclosed sum.