In a report examining the performance of the banking sector in Saudi Arabia, Alvarez & Marsal expected that net interest margins would stabilize at three percent in 2024, according to a scenario of reducing interest rates by the second half of the year.
The report showed that the growth of loans and advances exceeded the growth of deposits in 2023, as the total loans and advances of the 10 largest banks witnessed a growth of 10.6 percent on an annual basis. While total customer deposits increased by only 7.8 percent on an annual basis during the fiscal year 2023. The loan-to-deposit ratio recorded an increase of 2.5 percent on an annual basis to 99.2 percent.
Source (Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper, edited)