Saudi banks experienced a muted year in 2023, with a slowdown in the country’s mortgage market affecting credit growth. Corporate and wholesale lending is set to boost lending in 2024, however, underpinned by the country’s Vision 2030 social development project.
Saudi National Bank remains comfortably the largest lender and the wider Middle East, registering a 7.1 per cent rise in Tier 1 capital and a 9.7 per cent growth in assets for the past year. Third-placed Riyad Bank registers the greatest return on assets of the country’s top five, followed closely by second-placed Al Rajhi Bank.