Report: All Ten Saudi Banks Grew Profit in the Second Quarter of 2026, With Combined Net Profit Up 8.2 Percent to 24.87 Billion Riyals
The Edge for Economic Consultancy has published a special report, “The Clean Sweep: All Ten Saudi Banks Grew Profit in the Second Quarter”, examining the second-quarter 2026 results of every bank listed on the Saudi Exchange. The report finds that all ten lenders grew their net profit year on year, taking their combined quarterly profit to about 24.87 billion riyals, roughly 6.6 billion dollars at the riyal’s pegged rate, up about 8.2 percent from the same quarter of 2025. Across the first half, aggregate sector profit rose 7.9 percent to 48.82 billion riyals, from 45.25 billion a year earlier, with first-quarter profit of 23.95 billion and the second quarter’s 24.87 billion reconciling cleanly to the half-year total.
The report’s central finding is that the growth was broad-based rather than concentrated: every one of the ten banks added to its bottom line, an outcome the report calls rare in any banking market. The largest lenders drove the sector total in absolute terms while several smaller banks posted the fastest percentage gains, in a sector still expanding as it funds the credit demand tied to the kingdom’s Vision 2030 investment programme.
Al Rajhi Bank was the most profitable of the ten, with second-quarter net profit of about 7.01 billion riyals, up 14 percent and equal on the report’s calculation to more than a quarter of the sector’s quarterly profit. On the report’s simplified profitability proxy, annualised quarterly profit against period-end assets, Al Rajhi earned about 2.67 percent, ahead of Saudi National Bank at about 2.12 percent, even though its balance sheet is roughly 16 percent smaller, a gap the report attributes to Al Rajhi’s low-cost retail deposit base. Saudi National Bank, the largest of the ten by assets at about 1.245 trillion riyals, reported the second-highest profit at about 6.61 billion riyals, up 7.6 percent.
The fastest growth in percentage terms came from smaller lenders working off lower bases, led by Bank Aljazira with a gain of about 16 percent that the report attributes to operating performance rather than a release of provisions. Saudi Awwal Bank grew profit about 9.6 percent despite a small decline in operating income, while Alinma Bank and Riyad Bank recorded the most modest increases, of about 1.4 percent and 2.0 percent, Riyad Bank’s slower growth reflecting a sharp rise in provisions for credit losses even as its underlying operating income expanded.
The report sets the results against a supportive but not uncomplicated backdrop. Sector loan growth was running near 7 percent year on year through May 2026 on Saudi Central Bank data, feeding net special commission income, while lending margins are under pressure from lower interest rates that the riyal’s peg to the dollar transmits directly from Federal Reserve policy. Banks have so far offset that compression through volume growth, deposit expansion and more diversified fee and investment income. The report also notes, citing S&P Global Ratings, that Islamic banks account for about 76 percent of Saudi banking-system assets.
Why it matters: The Saudi banks are the financial engine of the Arab world’s largest economy, and a clean sweep of higher profits is a useful gauge of the health of the non-oil sector and of credit demand across the kingdom. For Kuwaiti and other Gulf investors, the breadth of the growth, spanning the largest banks and the smallest, is a constructive signal for the sector and for the wider Saudi economy that it funds.
| Indicator | Latest | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Combined Q2 2026 net profit, ten banks | About 24.87 billion riyals (about 6.6 billion dollars) | Up about 8.2 percent year on year |
| First-half 2026 sector net profit | About 48.82 billion riyals | Up 7.9 percent from 45.25 billion |
| Banks growing profit | All ten of ten | Broad-based, no lender declined |
| Most profitable, Q2 | Al Rajhi, about 7.01 billion riyals | Up 14 percent, over a quarter of sector profit |
| Largest by assets | Saudi National Bank, about 1.245 trillion riyals | Second-highest profit, about 6.61 billion |
| Fastest percentage growth | Bank Aljazira, about 16 percent | On operating performance, not provisioning |
| Sector loan growth, to May 2026 | About 7 percent year on year | Saudi Central Bank data |
| Islamic banks’ share of system assets | About 76 percent | S&P Global Ratings, July 2026 |
Download the English report | Download the Arabic report
Outlook: The report identifies three variables that will determine the second-half trajectory. The first is interest rates, since further Federal Reserve easing would pass directly through the riyal’s peg and compress lending margins. The second is provisioning, where the dispersion seen in the second quarter is the most likely source of surprise in either direction, as banks that released provisions face harder comparisons while those that built them may have created capacity for stronger reported growth later. The third is funding costs and deposit competition, with loan growth outpacing deposits in parts of the sector and pushing banks toward debt-market issuance. Continued Vision 2030 credit demand should support income, leaving the central question whether profit growth can keep pace with lending through the rest of 2026.
Sources: The Edge for Economic Consultancy; Saudi Exchange (Tadawul); Saudi Central Bank; S&P Global Ratings.
