Riyadh-Mubasher: Saudi British Bank (SABB), the kingdom's fifth-largest bank by assets, made net earnings of SAR 939 million in the fourth quarter of 2015, down 3% year-on-year from SAR 969 million.
“A decline in the net income was due to increase in total operating expenses by 5.2% as a result of higher provision for credit losses as well as rise in salary and employee-related expenses,” the bank said in a bourse statement on Monday.
Full-year net profits increased 1.5% to SAR 4.3 billion, compared with SAR 4.2 billion a year earlier.
The lender attributed the profit growth to total operating income which increased by 2%, mainly due to an increase in net special commission income, gains on non-trading investments and exchange income offset by decreases in fees and commission income, dividend income and trading income.
