VOL. XLIV

No. 22

28-May-2001

SAUDI ARABIA

Saudi Banks Report Solid 18% Profit Upturn In 1Q 2001

Saudi banks continued to prosper at the close of first quarter 2001 with nine out of the 10 (National Commercial Bank NCB has yet to publish full financial statements for the period) reporting an average rise in net income of 18%. All nine also reported an upturn in assets with the total for the sector rising 1.7% year-on-year from SR340.8bn ($90.9bn) to SR346.7bn ($92.5bn) for 1Q 2001 (see Table...