Pre-tax profits at the 94 Middle East banks did not match last year’s extraordinary 41.2% growth but nonetheless grew by a dynamic 30.3% to reach $26.5bn. Put in perspective, the Middle East banks may be among the world’s most attractive, although their aggregate profits still do not match those of Citigroup.
With aggregate Tier 1 capital up 38.6% to $115.2bn and aggregate assets up 30.8% to $1269.9bn, they are expanding fast and will continue to do so even if they only represent 3.4% and 1.7% of aggregate Tier 1 capital and total assets respectively.
Like last year, Saudi Arabia’s National Commercial Bank heads the Top 25 regional table with a further 10.9% capital increase to reach $6.4bn. The leading 25 banks include eight Saudi Arabian banks, led by National Commercial Bank and Samba Financial Group (third), and three Israeli banks, including second place Bank Hapoalim, Bank Leumi le-Israel (fourth) and Israel Discount Bank (21st).
The United Arab Emirates has five banks in the Top 25, led by Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (10th) and National Bank of Abu Dhabi (15th).
The Gulf banks dominate the Top 25, accounting for 20 with the remainder coming from Iran, Jordan and Israel. The biggest mover is Bahrain’s Ahli United Bank, which comes into the Top 25 in seventh place, jumping from 446 to 180 in this year’s Top 1000 following a significant 48.1% capital increase built around a regional expansion strategy.
In terms of performance, Egypt tops the country return on capital ratio list with a 29.7% return based on average bank ratios, which were helped by Bank of Alexandria’s record results. Saudi Arabia’s banks come next with 29.2%, up from 26.6% last year.
The Kuwaiti banks maintained performance at 27% while United Arab Emirates banks’ average profitability dropped to 18.8% from 21.1% last year.
In terms of average capital/asset ratios, United Arab Emirates banks come out on top with a well capitalised 17.9%, followed by Bahrain at 16.8% and Saudi Arabia on 14.2%. Egypt’s ratio was the lowest at 6.4%.TOP 25: MIDDLE EAST ($M)
