Saudi’s NCB posts 87 percent rise in Q3 net profit
JEDDAH, Saudi arabia Oct 12 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia’s
National Commercial Bank (NCB), the country’s biggest bank by
assets, posted a 87 percent rise in its third-quarter net
profit, the lender said on Wednesday.State-owned NCB made a net profit of 1.5 billion riyals
($412 million) in the three months to end September, compared
with 828 million riyals in the same period a year earlier.The unlisted lender’s assets grew by 13 percent to 307
billion riyals from 271 billion riyals at the end of the same
period last year, it said.Its loans and advances portfolio increased by 6 percent to
130 billion riyals, from 123 billion a year earlier while
customer deposits grew by 13 percent to 243 billion compared
with 215 billion a year earlier.NCB’s Chief Executive, Abdul-Kareem Abu Al-Nasr, said
earlier this year that he expected Saudi banks to see higher
profits this year as they take less provisions and start to lend
more.Abu Al-Nasr said he expects NCB’s profits this year to be
higher than 2010 wher the bank posted 4.7 billion riyals.
