The «First Bank» List of the Top 100 Lending Banks in the Arab World

The UAE Leads the Arab Ranking with 18 Banks… Jordan Follows with 12

Strong Presence for Egypt and Saudi Arabia with 10 Banks

 Kuwait Maintains Momentum with 9 Banks Among the Largest Lenders

Balanced Representation for Qatar, Bahrain, and Morocco with 8 Banks

Each Oman Secures 7 Spots… Notable Presence of 6 Tunisian Banks

Limited Algerian Participation with Only 2 Banks

Palestine and Iraq Represented by One Bank Each

The «First Bank» list of the Top 100 Arab Banks by Loans as of September 2025 revealed that the UAE banking sector ranked first, securing 18 positions on the list, reflecting its regional leadership in lending activity and its ability to capitalize on economic momentum and diversified financing opportunities.

Jordanian banks ranked second with 12 institutions, reaffirming their sustained credit growth and capacity to expand loan portfolios despite surrounding geopolitical challenges.

Egyptian banks demonstrated a strong presence with 10 institutions in the ranking, signaling continued credit expansion and their growing role in supporting domestic economic activity.

Saudi banks matched Egypt with 10 institutions, while Kuwait reinforced its position with 9 banks. The list also showed balanced representation for Qatar, Bahrain, and Morocco, with 8 banks each.

Meanwhile, Oman recorded 7 banks on the list, Tunisia followed with 6 banks, Algeria was represented by only 2 institutions, and both Palestine and Iraq had one bank each in the ranking.

The classification was based on the size of reported loan portfolios, converted into U.S. dollars to ensure a unified comparison framework across institutions. Banks lacking officially disclosed data were excluded to maintain methodological accuracy and reliability.

Regarding the Top 10 banks by loan volume, Qatar National Bank ranked first with a loan portfolio of USD 274.50 billion as of September 2025.

Al Rajhi Bank secured second place with loans totaling USD 201.59 billion.

Saudi National Bank ranked third with a loan portfolio of approximately USD 193.35 billion.

Emirates NBD captured fourth place with loans of around USD 164.34 billion.

First Abu Dhabi Bank ranked fifth with a portfolio reaching approximately USD 162.29 billion.

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank came sixth with loans amounting to USD 109.27 billion.

Riyad Bank placed seventh with a loan portfolio of USD 98.39 billion.

National Bank of Egypt ranked eighth with loans totaling approximately USD 91.54 billion.

National Bank of Kuwait came ninth with a loan portfolio of around USD 85.25 billion.

Saudi Awwal Bank (SAB) secured tenth place with loans totaling USD 78.11 billion as of September 2025.

It is worth noting that the ranking included parent banking groups across Arab countries and excluded their foreign subsidiaries.