Despite a turbulent year characterised by low oil prices and increasing concerns about ongoing political and security instability in the region, The Banker’s Top 100 Arab Banks ranking for 2016 – which features year-end results for 2015 – shows that lenders in the Middle East and north Africa are still able to turn in a profit while expanding their core asset bases and improving their overall resilience. That being said, compared with the past few years, key markers in the region are noticeably down.
Tier 1 capital among Arab banks has continued to grow, albeit at a slower rate than in our 2015 ranking, with an aggregate growth rate of 8.64% among the 100 lenders versus 11.08% the year before bringing the total capital base to $282.8bn, up from $263.16bn. Aggregate balance sheets rose by 5.81% to $2499.5bn, up from $2388bn in the 2015 ranking, but with a marked slowdown in growth from 10.5%. In the 2014 ranking the figure was 12.2%.