Saudi Arabia's Riyad Bank posted a 6.8 per cent rise in the second-quarter profit after Saudi Arabia's fourth-biggest lender by market value boosted its lending business to compensate for lower brokerage income.
Riyad Bank topped most analysts' forecasts with profit of SR906 million (Dh 887.3m), or 1.06 riyals per share, in the three months ended June 30, compared with SR848m, or an adjusted one riyal per share, in the year-earlier period.
The average forecast of four analysts polled by Reuters last month was for quarterly profit of 841.15m riyals.
"These earnings confirm the bank's continuing drive towards focusing and expanding core banking activities and developing assets," the bank said in the statement posted on the bourse website.
Loans grew 44 per cent at the end of June, while deposits climbed 23 per cent, it said. Net lending income rose 23 per cent – the largest component of operating income – while net banking services fees climbed 21 per cent, Riyad Bank said.
The pace of net lending income growth slowed from the first quarter, when it increased 27 per cent year on year.
Net banking income growth picked up from 15 per cent in the first quarter, according to Reuters data.
The Saudi Central Bank meanwhile has tightened bank lending restrictions this year as it fights decades-high inflation.
Riyad Bank did not say how much it earned from non-trading investments, net exchange income or net trading income.