GCC banks’ financial profile to stabilise next year: S&P - The Peninsula Qatar

GCC banks’ financial profile to stabilise next year: S&P - The Peninsula Qatar:

After facing three years of significant pressure, the GCC banks’ financial profile should remain stable in 2019, absent any unexpected geopolitical or oil-price shock.

The banks’ lending growth should stabilise at around the 5 percent mark over the next 12 months, as higher oil prices and stronger public investments raise economic growth in the region overall, S&P Global said yesterday.

“We expect profitability to stabilise--with return on assets at about 1.5 percent-1.7 percent and net interest margins at 3 percent on average in 2018--benefitting from the higher interest rates and significant non-interest-bearing deposits on banks’ balance sheets,” the global ratings agency noted.