Saudi’s largest lender NCB posts 5.7% rise in first-quarter profit

Saudi Arabia’s National Commercial Bank(NCB), the country’s largest lender, on Tuesday reported a 5.7 per cent rise in first-quarter net profit.

NCB made a net profit of SAR3.16bn ($842.7m) in the three months to March 31, up from SAR2.99bn a year earlier, it said in a statement.

Deposits at the bank, which has perhaps the closest links to the government, were little changed year on year at SAR309.7bn at the end of March.

Loans and advances at the end of March stood at SAR268.7bn, up 6.3 per cent.

Quarterly operating income rose by 4 per cent to SAR4.95bn.