By: Bedour Al Raee 

Riyadh – Mubasher: A number of 61 banks in the GCC reported an 8.5% year-on-year profit hike during the first six months of 2019, recording $18.54 billion.

Emirates NBD topped profitable banks in the GCC in H1-19, registering $2.04 billion in profits, followed by Qatar National Bank (QNB) and First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) with $2.02 billion and $1.72 billion profits, respectively.

Emirati banks led the region in terms of profits, as a group of 18 UAE banks recorded $6.61 billion net profit in H1-19, while Saudi Banks’ profits hiked 2.8% year-on-year to $5.9 billion during the same period.

Nine Qatari banks reported $3.36 billion profit from January to the end of June, while profits of 10 Kuwait banks amounted to $1.61 billion.

Translated by: Muhammad Abdul-Wakeel