Saudi banks reaffirmed that the Kingdom’s banking sector had successfully overcome the bottleneck recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic which had hit world economies.
A major Saudi bank credited the recovery to prudent measures adopted by the Kingdom coupled with qualitative financial sector initiatives and the strength and durability of Saudi banking institutions.
Saudi banks had interacted positively with a host of initiatives centered on maintaining the sustainability of the productivity of national institutions and enterprises.
This was reiterated during the eighth panel discussion held under the Saudi Banks Diwaniya initiative, a program established by the Jeddah-based Media and Banking Awareness Committee for Saudi Banks.
The session was attended by Riyadh Bank’s CEO Tareq Alsadhan and Secretary-General of the Media and Banking Awareness Committee for Saudi Banks Talat Hafiz.
Alsadhan confirmed having an optimistic outlook on the banking sector’s ability to bounce back to early 2020 performance levels, especially that it is underpinned by state projects and reinforced spending.
Saudi-listed banks reported a 28% drop in aggregate net profit in the first nine months of 2020.
They recorded net gains of about SAR 25 billion (6.6 billion dollars), compared to SAR 34.7 billion (9.2 billion dollars) for the same period last year. The profits of banks in Q3 2020 decreased by 8.9%, compared to the same quarter in 2019.
Alsadhan stressed that banks, despite pandemic imposed repercussions, have continued serving clients without interruption, employing banking technology.
He reaffirmed the strength and standing of the Saudi banking sector, noting its high potential of being considered as one of the best in the world.
Speakers at the panel discussion tackled a host of issues related to the activities of the Kingdom’s banking sector.
The topics included credit facilities given to corporates, banking plans designed to back entrepreneurs, especially in terms of digital services, initiatives focused on promoting Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises MSMEs, and measures undertaken by banks during the pandemic.
Women empowerment in the banking sector and mergers were also discussed.