Total assets of banks listed in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries increased by 3.1 percent to 2.3 trillion dollars, compared to 2.23 trillion dollars at the end of the second quarter of 2019, the credit for achieving that growth is due again to the traditional banks, whose assets recorded a total growth of 3.6 percent compared to the previous quarter, while the size of the budget of Islamic banks increased by 1.4 percent.
The UAE continued to lead at the level of the Gulf countries in terms of the size of the balance sheet of the listed banks, after it recorded the largest rate of growth on a quarterly basis in terms of total assets by 6.3 percent to reach $ 755 billion. While the growth rate of assets of banks listed in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was 0.9 percent, reaching $ 628 billion. Qatari banks also came in third place.
The net interest margin rates of Gulf banks remained stable on a quarterly basis, and stabilized at 3.1 percent, despite the low-interest rates in the third quarter of this year after the United States cut interest rates twice during that period.
Source (Al-Sharq Al-Awsat Newspaper, Edited)
