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Saudi Arabia’s banks have emerged as the wheel of the region’s project lending activity although their number is far below the number of banks in most Arab countries.
By the end of the first half of 2025, the Gulf Kingdom’s 13 commercial and Islamic banks have provided $1.05 trillion in project and corporate credit, nearly a third of the total loans of about $3 trillion extended by more than 400 banks in the Arab world.
Lending by Saudi Arabia has recorded rapid growth over the past years due to an upsurge in domestic projects within Vision 2030 economic transformation scheme launched by the world’s dominant oil exporter 10 years ago.
Credit by the Kingdom’s banks, most of which are large units, soared by around $72 billion in the first half of 2025, nearly half the $150 billion increase in total loans provided by the Arab banks, the report by the Beirut-based Union of Arab Banks (UAB) showed.
While the UAE has the Arab world’s largest banking assets, it far falls short of Saudi bank credit, with loans extended by UAE banks totalling $515 billion by the end of June.
Saudi banks also have the largest shareholders equity, standing at around $164 billion at the end of June, more than a quarter of the total capitalisation of Arab banks of around $588 billion, the report said.
Banks in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf oil producers rely heavily on credit provision for their earnings, which swell when there is an increase in projects and economic growth.
High profits by most Saudi banks over the past years have allowed them to more than triple their capital from around 200 billion Saudi riyals ($53 billion) in 2009 to SAR653 billion ($174 billion) at the end of 2025, according to official Saudi data.
(Writing by N Saeed; Editing by Anoop Menon)
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