The lender reported a net profit of 339 million riyals ($93 million), according to Reuters calculations, compared with 299.7 million riyals in the same period last year.

Analysts polled by Reuters on average expected a quarterly  profit of 304.90 million riyals.

Reuters calculated the bank’s quarterly profit based on previous financial statements.

The bank reported first-half profit of 702 million riyals.

Loans grew 4.3 percent, and deposits rose 7.2 percent year-on-year during the first half of the year, the company said in a statement. 

In April, Qatar’s central bank limited the amount Qatari citizens can borrow to no more than 2 million riyals ($549,254) on loans with a maximum maturity of six years and 400,000 riyals on loans of no more than four years.

The bank has fully applied the new regulations on loans granted to individuals, the statement said.

“We are convinced that the new ceiling on personal loans will not curtail consumer lending,” the bank’s Chief Executive Officer R Seetharaman said in the statement.

Seetharaman said in April that it may delay its planned $500 million bond sale until 2012. In October, Doha Bank mandated Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan to arrange for a $500 million bond.

Doha Bank shares closed 1.5 percent lower prior to the results. They have fallen 20 percent so far this year.