Al-Rajhi Bank, Saudi Arabia’s biggest lender by market value, said third-quarter profit declined 8.6 percent as six of the kingdom’s 11 publicly traded lenders reported lower quarterly profits on higher provisions.
Net income fell to 1.64 billion riyals ($440 million) from 1.8 billion riyals in the year-earlier period, the Riyadh-based bank said in a statement on the Saudi bourse website today. The median of three analyst estimates was for a profit of 1.84 billion riyals, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Saudi banks’ earnings have been hurt since the onset of the global credit crisis as provisions for bad loans rose and lending slowed after the Saad and Algosaibi business groups defaulted on at least $15.7 billion of loans. Saudi British Bank, the lender 40 percent owned by HSBC Holdings Plc, Arab National Bank and Saudi Investment Bank reported lower quarterly profit.
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