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Reuters
Riyad Bank, Saudi Arabia’s fourth-largest bank by assets, reported a 47.7 percent rise in third-quarter net profit, beating analysts’ forecasts as income from investments and fees and commission rose.
The bank, which had reported flat or lower profits in nine of the last ten quarters, made $288 million in the three months to September 30, up from 729 million riyals in the same period of 2016, it said in a bourse filing.
Three analysts polled by Reuters had on average forecast the bank’s quarterly profit would be 852.5 million riyals. The bank said higher income from net special commission income and fees and commission was partially offset by a drop in exchange income and gains on non-trading investments. Its performance was also helped by a fall in provisions for credit losses and investments. After having their performance clipped for the past three years by the impact of lower oil prices, Saudi banks have been aided by an improvement in
liquidity in recent months.