NCB posts 87pc rise in Q3 net profit

Jeddah, October 12, 2011

Saudi Arabia's National Commercial Bank (NCB), the kingdom's biggest bank by assets, posted a 87 per cent rise in its third-quarter net profit, the lender said on Wednesday.

State-owned NCB made a net profit of 1.5 billion riyals ($412 million) in the three months to end September, compared with 828 million riyals in the same period a year earlier.

The unlisted lender's assets grew by 13 percent to 307 billion riyals from 271 billion riyals at the end of the same period last year, it said.

Its loans and advances portfolio increased by 6 percent to 130 billion riyals, from 123 billion a year earlier while customer deposits grew by 13 percent to 243 billion compared with 215 billion a year earlier.

NCB's chief executive Abdul-Kareem Abu Al-Nasr said earlier this year that he expected Saudi banks to see higher profits this year as they take less provisions and start to lend more.

Abu Al-Nasr said he expects NCB's profits this year to be higher than 2010 wher the bank posted 4.7 billion riyals. - Reuters

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