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Article: Global Investment House: Saudi Banking Sector.
- Article from:
- Mena Report
- Article date:
- July 9, 2008
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 Al Bawaba (Middle East) Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Saudi banking industry consists of 18 banks. With the total banking assets to GDP ratio (Dec. 2007) of 73% in the Kingdom, the top three banks are namely NCB, SAMBA, and Al Rajhi Bank. The three financial institutions namely Al Rajhi Bank, Bank Al Bilad, and Bank AlJazira are entirely Islamic banks. The banking services are largely provided through a network of 1,361 branches (as compared to 1,289 in 2006) and 7,699 ATMs in the country.
The Saudi commercial banks' total assets posted a 5-year CAGR (2002-07) of 16%, from SR508bn in 2002 to SR1,075bn by the end of 2007. The total assets led by claims on the private sector continued to rise closing at SR1,173bn in ...