Saudi Arabia

For the past decade, Saudi Arabia has been at the forefront of development in the Islamic financial services (IFS) sector. The Kingdom, which is home to more than a quarter of the GCC’s Islamic financial assets and a handful of the world’s largest sharia-compliant financial institutions, is currently among the top IFS markets in the world. In 2011-12 the sector continued to expand, buoyed by...

It has been a good couple of years for the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul), which posted considerable growth in 2011 and 2012. Market capitalisation was up more than 10% over 2011 due to a spate of initial public offerings (IPOs) in late 2011 and 2012. However, while the Tadawul is the largest and most liquid exchange in the region, it lacks large institutional investors; around 90% of trading...

The Kingdom’s banking sector posted solid growth in 2011 and 2012 and is now one of the largest in the GCC, with total assets reaching $439.7bn by the third quarter of 2012. In addition, bank profitability has risen in recent years, reaching $8.23bn at the end of 2011, up from $6.94bn at the end of 2010 and $7.14bn at the end of 2009. The industry’s expansion over the past few years is largely...

Saudi Arabia continues to post strong economic growth on the back of its thriving petroleum sector anchored by a steady political and financial base. One of the largest exporters of oil worldwide, the country has also had some of the highest economic growth rates. Real GDP growth was forecast at 6.8% for 2012, following 8.5% expansion in 2011 and 4.8% in 2010. However, a new wave of strong state...