JEDDAH: The National Commercial Bank (NCB) has reported an almost 100 percent jump in its annual profits. The bank, Saudi Arabia’s largest by market value, posted a net income of SR4.04 billion ($1.07 billion) in 2009 as against SR2.03 billion ($541 billion) or 98.9 percent more over 2008.
NCB also reported a net profit of SR770 million ($205.3 million) for the fourth quarter of 2009 whereas it had posted a net loss of SR2.55 billion in the same period of 2008. “The increase in profits affirms the bank’s ability to effectively deploy its funds and to expand its sources of revenue despite the challenges facing the global economy,” said Abdullah Bahamdan, NCB chairman.
According to Bahamdan, NCB’s total assets grew by 16.1 percent to SR257.4 billion and shareholders’ equity by 12.1 percent to SR29.3 billion.
The NCB result has come as an encouraging development in the Saudi banking industry which in recent days saw most listed banks reporting lower earnings both during the fourth-quarter and 2009.
Except for Riyad Bank, the Kingdom’s third largest lender, which beat analysts’ forecasts by reporting a fourth-quarter net profit of SR912 million ($243 million) or 72.4 percent rise, almost all of the banks released disappointing results during the last week.
Bahamdan said that the NCB’s rising profitability reflects effective execution of a strategy centered on service excellence, innovation and risk management which generated growth in the bank’s core activities: Net special commission income grew by 3.5 percent, fees by 2.5 percent, loans and advances by 3.9 percent to reach SR112.2 billion, and customer deposits by 17.9 percent to reach SR202.6 billion.