In a sign of lending recovery from a bad loan provisioning due to improved business confidence, Saudi Arabia's four major banks said Monday in separate statements posted on Tadawul website that they have recorded strong profits in the second quarter of this year. Al-Rajhi Bank, the country's biggest Islamic lender, posted a 3.6 percent rise in second-quarter profit. The bank credited higher special commissions, or net interest income, and banking fees income and a decline in expenses for the rise in profits. Al Rajhi had net profit of SR1.84 billion ($491 million) in the three months to end-June, compared with SR1.78 billion in the prior-year period. Moreover, Abdullah Bin Sulaiman Al Rajhi, Managing Director and CEO of Al Rajhi Bank, said the bank's board of directors agreed to distribute SR1,875 million dividends to its shareholders for the first half of 2011. The dividends will be SR1.25 per share. Meanwhile, Riyad Bank's profits surged 9 percent to SR836 million ($222.9 million) in the second quarter, up from SR766 million last year, topping forecasts for profit of SR789.86 million. Saudi Hollandi Bank, the Kingdom's oldest bank, reported a 5.1 percent rise in quarterly profit, beating forecasts, to SR263.6 million. Net profit in Q2 was SR263.3 million compared to a net profit of SR250.5 million for the same quarter last year resulting in an increase of 5.1 percent, and a net profit of SR238 million for the previous quarter resulting in an increase of 10.6 percent. Net profit for 6 months is SR501.3 million compared to SR 480.5 million for the same period last year, an increase of 4.3 percent. However, Samba Financial Group's net profit decreased 9.7 percent to SR1,102 million in the second quarter compared with SR1,220 million for the corresponding quarter last year and against a net profit of SR1,123 million in the first quarter of 2011 quarter or a drop of 1.9 percent. The total operating income during the second quarter was SR1,635 million, compared with SR1,772 million for the same quarter last year, a decrease of 7.7 percent.
