RIYADH —

Alawwal Bank announced its financial results for the third quarter of 2018, reporting net income of SR281m, up 10.8% vs Q2 2018, attributable to higher operating income and lower total operating expenses.

Total operating income for the quarter increased by 1% to SR886m. Net special commission income also increased 3.5% from Q2 to SR692m.

Total operating expenses were down by 3% quarter-on-quarter, mainly driven by a 12.7% reduction in impairment charge for credit and other losses.

Alawwal bank’s capital position has continued to strengthen. Total capital adequacy ratio reached record levels in Q3, increasing 44 basis points from Q2 to 22.8%. Tier 1 capital was also up 43 basis points from Q2 to 18.4%.

Soren Nikolajsen, Managing Director, Alawwal Bank, said: “Our core business has performed well during a challenging period of economic activity. We have improved in some important areas, increasing profitability and cost controls, while at the same time stabilizing our loan book.”

“We have continued to punch above our weight and lead the digital transformation of the Kingdom’s banks. We are now offer more ways to access our services digitally than any bank in the Kingdom – recently becoming the first to be authorised to offer access to mobile services through face recognition. We have also started rolling out instant account opening and card issuance, after successfully digitising these processes in our ground breaking digital branch IBDA.”

Alawwal bank ended the third quarter with total assets of SR84.1 billion, down just under 1% quarter-on-quarter. — SG