Financial and Banking News

REGIONAL BANKING

Lower Profits Become the Norm for Saudi Banks

With 1984 results now published for six of the Saudi banks which report on an end-December basis, it is clear that reduction in profitability is the norm. Only al-Bank al-Saudi al-Fransi reported increased net income (MEES, 18 March), and in this case the increase was limited to 3.6%. The other six reported drops of 11-59%, as indicated by the following table, which summarizes the changes in assets...