JEDDAH, 15 October — National Commercial Bank (NCB), the largest Saudi bank, announced yesterday a 29.9 percent increase in net profits for the first nine months of 2002 compared to the previous year.
Net profits on Sept. 30 reached SR1.99 billion ($530.8 million) against SR1.52 billion ($408.8 million) in the same period of 2001, the bank said in a statement.
Earnings per share reached SR33.2 (SR25.5 in 2001).
NCB Chairman Abdullah Bahamdan attributed the increase in profits to a rise in net commission income, charges on banking services and a staggering 486 percent gain from the sale of investments.
Bahamdan said NCB assets rose by 9.5 percent to SR103.8 billion ($27.7 billion) at the end of the third quarter.
Deposits also increased by 9.9 percent to SR82.5 billion ($22 billion) on Sept. 30.
Shareholders’ funds totaled SR9.8 billion, SR2.9 billion or 42 percent higher than last year.
The chairman concluded by praising the significant efforts exerted by NCB’s management and staff in modernizing the whole range of customer services and developing products to cater for their perceived requirements and expectations. He also thanked NCB’s customers, shareholders, management and staff for their continuing support to the bank.