JEDDAH — The National Commercial Bank (NCB) announced its record net income for 2017, which reached SR9,802 million compared to SR9,317 million for the previous year, achieving an increase of SR485 million, with a growth rate of 5.2% compared to 2016. The Q4 net income reached SR2,556 million compared to SR2,287 million in Q4 of the previous year, achieving an increase of 11.8%. Earnings per share reached SR4.74 compared to SR4.51 for the same period of the previous year.

Mansour Al-Maiman, NCB’s Chairman, said the net special commission income reached SR13,661 million compared to SR13,550 million for the same period of the previous year, an increase of 0.8%. NCB’s operating expenses decreased by 8.5% compared to the same period of the previous year.

“The bank assets reached SR444 billion compared to SR443 billion at the closing of the previous year, with an increase of 0.3%. The Financing and Advances portfolio has amounted to SR249 billion compared to SR254 billion for the same period of the previous year. The banks Investments increased to SR115 billion compared to SR112 billion, with an increase of 2.8%. Customers deposits’ amounted to SR309 billion compared to SR316 billion of the previous year, with a decrease of 2.1%,” Al-Maiman added.

He also said that the bank’s investments in IT infrastructure and new advanced systems to replace the existing systems have made a qualitative leap in convenience, service level and customer experience, in addition to quick turnaround of transactions.

Al-Maiman added: “We have achieved advancements on all levels to continue our journey in realizing our vision to be the Premier Financial Service Group in the Region. It also showcases our strong position in the Saudi banking sector which was attained by meeting our customers’ expectations and our flexibility to meet the market demands.”

He further said that NCB continued to expand its geographical outreach and opened more service outlets by adding 26 new branches, including some branches equipped with state-of-art technologies and modern design in an initiative to develop our customers’ banking experience and provide best services. This brings the total of NCB branches to 400 by the end of the year. Also, 2 new Quick Pay centers were opened bringing the total of centers to 150; plus 243 new ATMs were installed to reach 3,432 machines throughout the Kingdom at the end of the year. This enhanced the bank’s capability to improve its products and services and better reach its’ customers, which will give the customer access to all our services 24/7. — SG