New Brand Finance data shows Qatar’s banking sector remains the backbone of the country
DOHA, 28 April 2025 – Qatar’s economy continues to demonstrate resilience in 2026, underpinned by steady diversification efforts and sustained investment in future-ready sectors. This year, the total value of Qatar’s 10 most valuable brands rose to USD26.6 billion, marking a robust 15% year-on-year increase and reflecting improved brand strength across key industries despite ongoing global economic uncertainty, according to the Qatar 10 2026 report from Brand Finance, the world's leading brand valuation consultancy.
The banking sector remains the backbone of Qatar’s brand landscape, accounting for 49% of total brand value. Qatari banks continue to benefit from strong domestic liquidity, resilient asset quality, and ongoing digital transformation initiatives that enhance customer experience and operational efficiency.
For the seventh consecutive year, Qatar National Bank (QNB) (brand value up 11% to USD10.4 billion) remains as Qatar’s most valuable brand, supported by a series of strategic initiatives in 2025. Some business highlights include the issuance of a EUR750 million Euro Green Bond, the launch of its digital-first banking entity, ezbank, in Egypt, and the introduction of the Dubai International Financial Centre’s first tokenised money market fund.
Qatar Airways has recorded significant brand value growth in 2026, with its brand value rising 34% to USD 5.2 billion, according to the latest Brand Finance Qatar rankings. The airline's brand value growth reflects strong underlying performance in the 2024/25 financial year, during which it reported its highest-ever annual revenue, a 6% year-on-year increase. Passenger traffic reached 43.1 million, up from 40 million the prior year, supported by the airline's continued investment in fleet and service quality.
Brand Finance notes that Qatar Airways' brand strength is underpinned by its global network and reputation as a premium long-haul carrier, assets that have been built systematically over many years.
QatarEnergy also recorded healthy growth of 13%, reaching USD 4.6 billion. The brand continues to demonstrate solid brand value growth underpinned by its dominance in liquefied natural gas (LNG). The company is advancing its large-scale North Field expansion programme, which is set to increase LNG production capacity from around 77 million tonnes per annum to approximately 142 million tonnes by 2030.
Savio D’Souza, Managing Director Middle East and Africa, Brand Finance commented:
“Qatar's top brands continue to reflect the country's growing resilience, ambition, and global influence. QNB's seventh consecutive year at the top speaks to the depth and stability of Qatar's financial sector. Qatar Airways' rise to second place is underpinned by years of sustained investment in fleet, network, and service quality a long-term brand-building story now showing up clearly in the numbers. QatarEnergy continues to anchor Qatar's economic identity through its unrivalled position in global LNG. Across banking, aviation, and energy, Qatar's brand portfolio demonstrates both the breadth of the country's diversification agenda and its enduring strength on the world stage.”
QNB also retains its status as Qatar’s strongest brand in 2025, with a Brand Strength Index (BSI) score of 86.3/100. Brand Finance’s market research highlights the bank’s strong performance across key brand metrics, particularly in trust, reliability, and customer preference. As the region’s largest financial institution, QNB continues to reinforce its leadership through an extensive international network spanning over 30 countries, alongside ongoing investments in digital banking, innovation, and sustainable finance solutions, as highlighted on its official platforms.
Brand Finance is the world’s leading brand valuation consultancy. Bridging the gap between marketing and finance, Brand Finance evaluates the strength of brands and quantifies their financial value to help organisations make strategic decisions.
Headquartered in London, Brand Finance operates in over 25 countries. Every year, Brand Finance conducts more than 6,000 brand valuations, supported by original market research, and publishes over 100 reports which rank brands across all sectors and countries.
Brand Finance also operates the Global Brand Equity Monitor, conducting original market research annually on 6,000 brands, surveying more than 175,000 respondents across 41 countries and 31 industry sectors. By combining perceptual data from the Global Brand Equity Monitor with data from its valuation database — the largest brand value database in the world — Brand Finance equips ambitious brand leaders with the data, analytics, and the strategic guidance they need to enhance brand and business value.
In addition to calculating brand value, Brand Finance also determines the relative strength of brands through a balanced scorecard of metrics, compliant with ISO 20671.
Brand Finance is a regulated accountancy firm and a committed leader in the standardisation of the brand valuation industry. Brand Finance was the first to be certified by independent auditors as compliant with both ISO 10668 and ISO 20671 and has received the official endorsement of the Marketing Accountability Standards Board (MASB) in the United States.
Brand is defined as a marketing-related intangible asset including, but not limited to, names, terms, signs, symbols, logos, and designs, intended to identify goods, services, or entities, creating distinctive images and associations in the minds of stakeholders, thereby generating economic benefits.
Brand strength is the efficacy of a brand’s performance on intangible measures relative to its competitors. Brand Finance evaluates brand strength in a process compliant with ISO 20671, looking at Marketing Investment, Stakeholder Equity, and the impact of those on Business Performance. The data used is derived from Brand Finance’s proprietary market research programme and from publicly available sources.
Each brand is assigned a Brand Strength Index (BSI) score out of 100, which feeds into the brand value calculation. Based on the score, each brand is assigned a corresponding Brand Rating up to AAA+ in a format similar to a credit rating.
Brand Finance calculates the values of brands in its rankings using the Royalty Relief approach – a brand valuation method compliant with the industry standards set in ISO 10668. It involves estimating the likely future revenues that are attributable to a brand by calculating a royalty rate that would be charged for its use, to arrive at a ‘brand value’ understood as a net economic benefit that a brand owner would achieve by licensing the brand in the open market.
The steps in this process are as follows:
1 Calculate brand strength using a balanced scorecard of metrics assessing Marketing Investment, Stakeholder Equity, and Business Performance. Brand strength is expressed as a Brand Strength Index (BSI) score on a scale of 0 to 100.
2 Determine royalty range for each industry, reflecting the importance of brand to purchasing decisions. In luxury, the maximum percentage is high, while in extractive industry, where goods are often commoditised, it is lower. This is done by reviewing comparable licensing agreements sourced from Brand Finance’s extensive database.
3 Calculate royalty rate. The BSI score is applied to the royalty range to arrive at a royalty rate. For example, if the royalty range in a sector is 0-5% and a brand has a BSI score of 80 out of 100, then an appropriate royalty rate for the use of this brand in the given sector will be 4%.
4 Determine brand-specific revenues by estimating a proportion of parent company revenues attributable to a brand.
5 Determine forecast revenues using a function of historic revenues, equity analyst forecasts, and economic growth rates.
6 Apply the royalty rate to the forecast revenues to derive brand revenues.
7 Discount post-tax brand revenues to a net present value which equals the brand value.
Brand Finance has produced this study with an independent and unbiased analysis. The values derived and opinions presented in this study are based on publicly available information and certain assumptions that Brand Finance used where such data was deficient or unclear. Brand Finance accepts no responsibility and will not be liable in the event that the publicly available information relied upon is subsequently found to be inaccurate. The opinions and financial analysis expressed in the study are not to be construed as providing investment or business advice. Brand Finance does not intend the study to be relied upon for any reason and excludes all liability to any body, government, or organisation.
The data presented in this study form part of Brand Finance's proprietary database, are provided for the benefit of the media, and are not to be used in part or in full for any commercial or technical purpose without written permission from Brand Finance.
