Saudi Awwal Bank's loans reach SAR 325bn, level with deposits

Saudi Awwal Bank (SAB) made a net profit after zakat and income tax of SAR 6,582 million in the first nine months of 2026, up 3 per cent from SAR 6,405 million a year earlier, the bank said in a release on 21 October.

Total operating income rose 1 per cent to SAR 11,116 million, and third-quarter revenue rose 5 per cent from the previous quarter to SAR 3,841 million. The balance sheet moved more than the profit line. Net loans and advances rose 11 per cent to SAR 325 billion from SAR 293 billion at the end of the third quarter of 2025, while customer deposits reached SAR 325 billion, up 3 per cent from SAR 315 billion, the release says.

On those rounded figures loans were about 93 per cent of deposits a year earlier and are now about 100 per cent. On the unrounded figures reported by Decypha, SAR 325.20 billion of loans against SAR 325.43 billion of deposits, the ratio is 99.9 per cent. Both ratios are Data Desk calculations. Total equity rose 3 per cent to SAR 80 billion from SAR 78 billion.

Deposits exceeded loans in both years, and the gap was wider a year earlier. SAB's release of 23 October 2025 reported net loans of SAR 293 billion, up 16 per cent on the year, and deposits of SAR 315 billion, up 14 per cent, a gap of about SAR 22 billion; on Decypha's unrounded figures the 2026 gap is SAR 0.23 billion. Over the latest twelve months loans have added about SAR 32 billion and deposits about SAR 10 billion.

On credit quality, the release says: "Asset quality remained resilient, with credit costs increasing during the nine-month period", and that the bank continued to apply its "established prudent forward-looking approach to provisioning". It gives no credit-cost figure, non-performing loan ratio, cost-to-income ratio or capital ratio, so the size of the increase is not stated.

Two other Gulf lenders that reported this month also disclosed provision charges. National Bank of Kuwait's provision charge doubled to KD 24.0 million in its nine-month statements, and Emirates NBD reported AED 2.1bn of impairment allowances, mainly provisions at DenizBank.

Return on tangible equity was 14.2 per cent for the nine months, against 15 per cent in the 2025 release. On net interest margin the release gives no number: it says only that the bank's "margin performance improved during the third quarter". The release does not give the funding mix or the liquidity ratios that would show how the bank is paying for its loan growth, so those are the figures to look for in the bank's full financial statements.