Mansour Al-Maiman JEDDAH – National Commercial Bank (NCB) posted a 12.7 percent increase in net income for the first nine months of 2012 at SR5,042 million compared to SR4,473 million for the same period of the previous year, the bank said in a statement. Net income for the third quarter amounted to SR1,480 million. NCB's Chairman Mansour Al-Maiman said the bank's strategy to diversify its sources of revenue has resulted in an increase of 20.9 percent in fee income from banking services and 7.5 percent in net special commission income, compared to the same period of the previous year. He added that the bank's total assets grew to reach SR321 billion compared to SR307 billion at the end of the same period of the previous year, an increase of 4.5 percent. Total shareholders' equity reached SR38.4 billion compared to SR34.7 billion at end of the same period of the previous year, an increase of 10.9 percent. Loans and advances portfolio grew to SR157 billion compared to SR130 billion at the end of the same period last year, an increase of 21.1 percent; customer deposits grew to SR251 billion compared to SR243 billion at the end of the same period last year, an increase of 3.4 percent. Meanwhile, NCB participated in the recently held four-day 16th International Business Forum in Istanbul, Turkey. Commenting on the event, Abdul Kareem Abu Alnasr, CEO of NCB, said “NCB's keenness to participate in the Kingdom's pavilion in this important International Business Forum in Turkey goes in line with the role the bank undertakes as a leading financial services group in the region and particularly its belief in the viability of investing in Turkey and in contributing to strengthening the Saudi-Turkish partnership across the different industries and business sectors." He added “as a leading financial services group, we seek to fulfill our positive role to facilitate trade flow and economic exchange between two of the largest economies in the Middle East Region, as the National Commercial Bank is the premier bank among the leading middle east banks as per the criteria of Tier 1 Capital covered by The Banker's listing." – SG
