Saudi Arabia's 12 commercial banks registered around SR15.72 billion in earnings in the first half of 2011, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) said in its monthly report. Annual profits are expected to be higher than in 2010 because of credit recovery and lower provisions, data revealed. The banks netted nearly SR2.6 billion in June alone and around SR2.9 billion in May, bring their total second quarter net income to about SR8.1 billion, higher than their first quarter profits of SR7.6 billion, SAMA report indicated. The report covered all banks in the Kingdom, including the non-listed National Commercial Bank (NCB), the country's largest bank. SAMA gave no figures for the first half of 2010 but the banks' net profits for the whole year stood at SR26.1 billion, slightly lower than their net earnings of SR26.8 billion in 2009. Profits stood at nearly SR29.9 billion in 2008, around SR30.2 billion in 2007 and a record high of SR34.6 billion in 2006. Profits of listed banks in the Kingdom swelled by 10.8 percent to SR12.9 billion from SR11.68 billion in the first half of 2010. Operating income of the 10 banks, excluding NCB and Al Jazira) grew by 2.18 percent to SR22.6 billion from SR22.12 billion while commission earnings slipped by 0.09 percent to SR15.52 billion from SR15.53 billion in the same period, the report added. Overall, the Saudi banking system remains profitable with plenty of room to grow. As the global risk averseness continues to diminish, Saudi banks cautiously follow suit and deem eventually to expand their loans portfolios …with over SR1 trillion deposits on balance sheets, and a range of lending opportunities in expanding economy.
