Lower costs propel Saudi Arabia's NCB Q3 profit up

Saudi Arabia's National Commercial Bank (NCB), the kingdom's largest lender, reported a 8.4 percent rise in third-quarter net profit on Sunday, helped by a fall in expenses and provisions for bad loans. The bank made a net profit of 2.13 billion riyals ($568 million) in the three months to Sept. 30, down from 1.96 billion riyals in the same period of 2016, it said in a bourse statement.
SICO Bahrain forecast NCB would make a quarterly profit of 2.29 billion riyals. The bank was helped by a fall in operating expenses and impairment charges for financing and investments. Earlier on Sunday, Al Rajhi Bank, the kingdom's second-largest lender by assets, reported a 12.7 percent rise in third-quarter net profit, in line with analysts' forecasts.