The National Commercial Bank (NCB), Saudi Arabia's largest lender by assets, said Saturday that its profit in the third quarter increased 21 percent to SR1.034 billion Saudi ($275.7 million) from a year earlier. The bank's earnings for the first nine months of 2009 declined 28 percent to SR3.271 billion, mainly due to “building provisions for loans and advances as a prudent measure to safeguard the strength of its financial position,” NCB said in a statement. Deposits increased 27 percent to SR198 billion at the end of the third quarter. Loans and advances portfolio were SR117 billion, the statement said. The bank's core activities for the 9 months continued to grow with net special commission income rising by 2.6 percent. Customer deposits recorded robust growth with an increase of 27 percent reaching SR198,387 million by Sept. 30, 2009. Moreover, the loans and advances reached SR116,514 million, total assets amounted to SR253,055 million and total shareholders' equity amounted to SR 28,729 million at Sept. 30, 2009. NCB's Chairman of the Board of Director Sheikh Abdullah Bahamdan, expressed his deep gratitude to the Bank's clients, shareholders, Board of Directors and staff for their continued support of NCB to achieve these results.
