Merger Between Islamic and Conventional Bank: Transition Process and Challenges in Qatar

Bank mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have been on the rise globally, particularly in emerging economies where policies aimed at enhancing financial system stability have been driving restructuring in the banking sector. The aim of this dissertation is to produce scholarly output about the bank mergers, specifically in Qatar region. The dissertation is in essays format. For this goal, the thesis starts with an introduction, and then the literature review part includes a bibliometric study about bank mergers. Next chapters are empirical chapters, continuing with an analysis of impact on stock prices due to merger announcements. The study concluded that being a developing market, the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) did not react eccentrically due to merger announcements. Ensuing chapter was aimed to determine the impact of M&A activity on the financial performance of Barwa Bank (later Dukhan Bank) in Qatar over six years from 2017-2022, covering three years before and three years’ post-merger. The study found that the bank's liquidity, profitability, solvency, and investment ratios did not vary significantly, suggesting that M&A activity did not significantly affect the bank’s financial performance. Next two chapters use a balanced scorecard technique for analyzing a recently emerged bank merger in Qatari financial market, for Barwa bank and Masraf Al Rayyan cases. Masraf Al Rayyan case is specifically important because it is an Islamic and conventional bank merger, merged entity being Islamic. Both analyses found different results regarding the most important criteria for each individual merger. Policy recommendations and short and long-term strategy development suggestions are offered in both articles separately. The dissertation as a whole aims to contribute to the M&A literature, and to be a guideline for future mergers in the region.