The year 2017 has seen a welcome recuperation in the liquidity position of the banking sector. In October 2017 the Saudi Arabia Interbank Offered Rate (SAIBOR) stood at 1.79%, a considerable improvement on the 2.39% that was reached in the same month of 2016. The interbank rate has been below 2% since February 2017, suggesting the liquidity...
Reaching a dispersed population across 2.15m sq km has always been a key challenge for Saudi Arabia’s commercial banks. While coastal business centres and the capital are well served by banking infrastructure, the connection between the public and the industry is patchier in other parts of the country. According to the World Bank’s most recent...
These have been profitable times for the Saudi insurance sector, although bumpy ground in the economy overall has made the growth of premiums more challenging. The sector is undergoing a significant overhaul as a stronger regulatory framework is progressively implemented and enforced, and moves to consolidate the market are in progress. Developments in the health segment continue to look...
Subdued oil prices deflated investor sentiment across the GCC throughout most of 2017. However, mid-2017 brought some encouraging developments: news of a possible MSCI reclassification resulted in a spike in the main index of the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) in the summer of 2017. In 2016 the government launched the National Transformation Programme 2020, with the goal of turning the economy...
Despite the effects of lower international oil prices placing downward pressure on sector profitability, Saudi Arabia’s banks have succeeded in expanding their assets over the past year. While the trend of lower profits is likely to prevail over the medium term, the Kingdom’s banks are well positioned to capitalise on the growth opportunities encompassed in the country’s new economic...
2017 proved a momentous year for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as the various strategies related to the country’s Vision 2030 and National Transformation Plan 2020 started to take shape.
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