Riyadh – Mubasher: Bank Al Jazira is forecast to benefit from the projected increase in the trading volumes of the Saudi stock market and further injection of liquidity, in line with listing the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) on MSCI Emerging Markets Index, Alistithmar Capital said in a report on Tuesday.

Alistithmar Capital ascribed its projection to the Saudi lender’s brokerage and asset management sector which made up more than 20% of its operation income, in addition to the bank’s acquisition of around 15% of the total market share.

The Saudi Arabia-based investment bank expected Bank Al Jazira’s net profits to increase by 2.2% to SAR 877 million in 2018, compared to SAR 858 million a year earlier.

Alistithmar Capital maintained its neutral outlook for Bank Al Jazira on the medium and long term, while the bank’s profits for the fourth quarter of 2017 came against the investment bank's expectations, the report added.

Operation income of the lender may rise by 8.9% to SAR 2.81 billion in the current year versus SAR 2.58 billion the year before, the report showed.

Bank Al Jazira’s loans are forecast to increase to SAR 41.78 billion in 2018 from SAR 39.79 billion the previous year, according to Alistithmar’s forecasts.

Similarly, the lender’s deposits are projected to level up to SAR 51.79 billion in 2018 from SAR 50.28 million in the prior year, SAIB's wholly owned firm mentioned.