Commercial Bank celebrates achievements and looks to the future at Annual Staff Meeting

​Doha, Qatar: Commercial Bank, one of the leading full service banks in Qatar, recently held its annual staff event and gala dinner at the Katara Cultural Hall to celebrate the Bank’s record profits and achievements to date. The event was attended by the Bank’s Managing Director, Mr. Hussain Alfardan, Board Directors and more than 1,000 Bank employees. Chief Executives and other senior officials representing Commercial Bank’s associated banks were also invited to attend the event, signifying the Bank’s strong intention to further develop its regional alliance and expand its strategic footprint into new high-growth markets.

Commercial Bank’s Group Chief Executive, Mr. Andrew Stevens, was the keynote speaker at the event and set out his vision for continued success in the future by defining the Bank’s new growth strategies, while reaffirming its brand values and promise. He gave a presentation about the successful history of the Bank to date and how its development has mirrored the spectacular growth of Qatar itself. Mr. Stevens highlighted the advantages Qatar presented, with its rich cultural heritage, rapid population growth and the world’s highest GDP per capita, and also referred to the emerging, influential and educated Qatari youth as the future of the country. In his speech, he welcomed the CEOs of the National Bank of Oman, Salaam Shaksy, and United Arab Bank, Paul Trowbridge, and outlined how critical those banks are to Commercial Bank’s future. Following the recently announced acquisition of more than 70% of Alternatifbank in Turkey, Mr. Stevens welcomed the CEO, Hamit Aydogan, to Doha.  The banks, Mr. Stevens said, would work together to build revenues by capturing new trade and investment flows emanating out of Turkey as well as from Qatar, the UAE and Oman and through shared product expertise, innovation and business development. 

Reaffirming the Bank’s legacy and brand values, Mr. Stevens said: “Throughout the past 38 years, Commercial Bank has achieved many ‘firsts’ through the visionary leadership of the Bank’s founding members. The Bank’s brand values – which were set out by our founding members and give us enduring strength and stability – emphasis our desire to continuously innovate and stay abreast with industry-leading trends. Our brand promise that ‘everything is possible’ speaks to our heritage as well as our future ambition, and will enable us to grow and thrive even more in the future both here in Qatar and abroad, through the strengthening of our regional alliance.”

At the event, Mr. Stevens also introduced an evolution of Commercial Bank’s visual identity. The Bank’s four crescents are now set against a changing colourscape of vibrant, energetic colours inspired by the sky that can be seen over Qatar at different times of the day – dawn, day, dusk and night. The new identity is being rolled out across a variety of channels, and in a first for the country, the Bank has also relaunched its website, with the colour of its pages regularly changing depending on the time of day customers visit the site.

Mr. Stevens paid tribute to the visionary founding members of the Bank, and to all the members of the Board of Directors who have led the Bank from inception to where it is now with loyalty and dedication.

Mr. Stevens added, “We are very proud of our success over the last nearly 4 decades and are very optimistic about what the future will bring for the Bank and for Qatar. I would like to express our sincere appreciation for the continuing visionary leadership of His Highness the Emir and His Highness the Heir Apparent, and for the guidance and support received from His Highness the Prime Minister, His Excellency the Minister of Economy and Finance and His Excellency the Governor of the Qatar Central Bank. We look forward to continuing to serve customers with commitment over the next 40 years and beyond.”

Since inception, Commercial Bank has worked hard to build a successful reputation in the region as the Bank that finds a way to provide innovative banking products and services to its customers. For more information about Commercial Bank’s history, banking services and product innovations from its establishment in 1975 to date, visit the Bank’s new website at www.cbq.qa ​​