«First Bank» issues a new ranking of the largest 50 banks in the Arab world

QNB takes the lead among Arab banks with assets exceeding 356.13 billion dollars while First Abu Dhabi Bank ranks second with total assets amounting to 330.35 billion dollars.

The Saudi National Bank ranks third with total assets amounting to 293.89 billion dollars while Emirates NBD and Al Rajhi Bank take the fourth and fifth places with total assets of 271.36 billion dollars and 259.35 billion dollars respectively.

The National Bank of Egypt leads Egyptian banks and ranks seventh in the Arab world with assets approaching 159.5 billion dollars while Banque Misr ranks fifteenth in the Arab world with assets estimated at around 73.5 billion dollars.

CIB and the Arab African International Bank enter the list of the largest 50 Arab banks and hold the forty third and forty sixth places respectively.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE dominate the list of the largest 50 Arab banks with ten positions for each of them while Qatar and Kuwait secure seven positions.

Egypt is included in the list with four positions and Algeria with three positions while Oman and Morocco and Bahrain and Lebanon each obtain two positions.

First Bank published a new ranking of the largest 50 Arab banks which revealed clear Gulf dominance over the banking sector in the region amid notable superiority of Saudi and Emirati banks and strong competition from Qatari and Kuwaiti banks while some major Arab economies witnessed limited representation in the list.

Saudi and Emirati banks topped the Arab banking landscape by securing ten positions each in the list followed by Qatari and Kuwaiti banks with seven banks for each country which reflects the strength of the financial systems in these countries and their rising regional competitiveness.

In contrast Egypt secured four positions in the ranking and Algeria secured three positions while the representation of Oman and Morocco and Bahrain and Lebanon was limited to two banks for each of them while Jordan appeared with only one bank which highlights a clear disparity in the geographic distribution of Arab banking power and raises questions about the prospects of rebalancing the map of financial influence in the future.

The ranking is based on arranging banks in descending order according to the announced asset size in US dollars which allows for a unified comparison between different banks bearing in mind that banks without reliable official data were excluded.

Qatar National Bank QNB topped the list of the largest 50 Arab banks in terms of asset size for 2024 with assets exceeding 356.13 billion dollars while First Abu Dhabi Bank ranked second in the Arab world and first in the UAE with assets amounting to 330.35 billion dollars at the end of the same year.

The Saudi National Bank came in third place in the Arab world and first in Saudi Arabia with total assets amounting to 293.89 billion dollars at the end of 2024 followed by Emirates NBD in fourth place in the Arab world and second among UAE banks with assets amounting to 271.36 billion dollars by the end of the same year.

Al Rajhi Bank took the fifth place in the Arab world and second in Saudi Arabia with its asset portfolio surpassing 259.35 billion dollars followed by Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank in sixth place in the Arab world and third among UAE banks with total assets reaching 177.73 billion dollars at the end of 2024.

The National Bank of Egypt ranked seventh in the Arab world and first among Egyptian banks with assets approaching 159.5 billion dollars followed by Kuwait Finance House in eighth place in the Arab world and first among Kuwaiti banks with assets amounting to 146.3 billion dollars at the end of 2024 supported by its acquisition of Ahli United Bank.

The National Bank of Kuwait ranked ninth in the Arab world and second among Kuwaiti banks with total assets amounting to 130.97 billion dollars followed by Riyad Bank in third place among Saudi banks and tenth among Arab banks with total assets amounting to 119.88 billion dollars at the end of 2024.