By: Thabet Shehata
Riyadh – Mubasher: As at Sunday, 17 April, 2016, a total of 10 Saudi banks have announced their financial results for the first quarter of 2016, and reported a decline in their private investments portfolio by 23.2% to a total of SAR 324.45 billion ($86.5 billion), compared to SAR 422.58 billion ($112.68 billion) in the same period last year.
The private loans portfolios for these 10 Saudi banks grew during the three-month period to SAR 1.22 trillion, up 10% from SAR 1.11 trillion in the corresponding period in 2015, according to statistics conducted by Mubasher.
The statistics also showed that net profits for the 10 banks grew during the first three months of the year by 7.7% to SAR 10.25 billion, up from SAR 9.5 billion in the same period of 2015.
Despite seeing growth in the loans portfolio, the banks registered a slight decline in the deposits portfolio by 0.66% to total SAR 1.43 trillion for the 10 banks during Q1-16, compared to SAR 1.44 trillion during the same period in 2015.
National Commercial Bank (NCB) topped the list in all regards, after recording SAR 2.63 billion in profits, the highest during the quarter, up 0.96% from SAR 2.6 billion in the same period last year. In addition, the bank was the highest in terms of investments, loans and deposits.
Meanwhile, the 10 banks saw a decline in their investment portfolio, with the exception of Bank Albilad, Bank Al Jazira and Saudi Hollandi Bank, which reported a growth in investments by 57.5%, 18.84% and 9.74%, respectively.
On the other hand, Saudi Fransi Bank reported the sharpest decline of 55.2% in its investments portfolio in Q1-16, followed by Saudi British Bank (SABB) and Al Inma Bank, whose investments fell 39.6% and 32.64%, respectively.
As for the loans portfolio, all banks registered a growth, spearheaded by Bank Albilad, whose portfolio jumped 28.3%, followed by NCB with 16.8%.
All Saudi banks, with the exception of Samba Financial Group and the Saudi Investment Bank (SAIB), have announced their preliminary financial results for the first quarter of the year.
Translated by: Nada Adel Sobhi
