DUBAI - Qatar National Bank (QNB) , the Gulf's largest lender by assets, said on Thursday that its second-quarter profit rose 12.3% on an annual basis as a result of higher income from interest as well as from fees.

QNB reported net profit of 3.89 billion Qatari riyals ($1.1 billion) in the three months to June 30, up from 3.464 billion riyals in the second quarter of 2021, beating a median analyst estimate of 3.546 billion riyals, Refinitiv data showed.

Net interest income in the second quarter rose 23.5% to 7.004 billion riyals from 5.672 billion riyals a year earlier, QNB said in a statement, while net fees and commission income rose 12.6% to 907.7 million riyals.

For the half-year, QNB posted 7 billion riyals in net profit, it said, up 4% from the same period a year earlier. QNB said "before the impact of hyperinflation" net profit for the period was 7.9 billion riyals.

"QNB Group's Turkey operations was subjected to hyperinflationary accounting requirements," QNB said, adding that this had resulted in a non-cash "net monetary loss" of 744 million riyals which was "neutral" for its total equity.

It said the accounting adjustments relating to Turkey had an incremental impact on group capital of about 3 billion riyals mainly arising from the revaluation of non-monetary assets.

Total assets stood at 1.124 trillion riyals at the end of the second quarter, up 6% on a year previously, it added.

Loans and advances grew 3% to 766 billion riyals, while QNB's loan to deposit ratio was 96.4% and its non-performing loans ratio was at 2.4%, up from 2.3% a year before.

"QNB Group set aside 3.9 billion riyals ($1.1 billion) as a precaution for potential loan losses," the bank said.

($1 = 3.6400 Qatar riyals)

(Reporting by Yousef Saba; Editing by Alexander Smith)