«First Bank» Ranking of the Top 100 Lending Banks in the Middle East and North Africa
QNB Tops the Ranking with a US$279 Billion Loan Portfolio; Al Rajhi Bank Ranks Second
UAE Leads in Number of Banks with 16 Institutions, Accounting for 23% of Total Loans
Saudi Banks Outperform with a 26% Share of Total Loans at the End of 2025
Egyptian Banks Secure Six Positions, Led by the National Bank of Egypt, Banque Misr, CIB, and Arab African International Bank
First Bank’s ranking of the Top 100 Lending Banks in the Middle East and North Africa at the end of 2025 revealed that the UAE ranked first in terms of the number of banks represented, with 16 banks featured in the list, accounting for approximately 23% of the total loan portfolio covered by the ranking.
Saudi Arabia and Jordan each placed 10 banks in the ranking. However, Saudi banks accounted for approximately 26% of total loans, compared with only 3% for Jordanian banks.
Similarly, Turkey and Kuwait each had nine banks included in the ranking, although their shares of total loans differed significantly. Turkish banks accounted for approximately 11% of total loans, compared with 8% for Kuwaiti banks.
While Qatar, Morocco, and Bahrain were each represented by eight banks, Qatari banks accounted for approximately 13% of total loans, compared with around 5% for Moroccan banks and approximately 3% for Bahraini banks at the end of 2025.
Meanwhile, Oman was represented by seven banks, holding approximately 2.5% of the ranking’s total loans by the end of the year.
The Egyptian banking sector secured six positions in the ranking, accounting for approximately 4.5% of the total loan portfolio at the end of 2025.
Among countries with a limited contribution—each accounting for less than 1% of the ranking’s total loans—Tunisia was represented by six banks, while Algeria had two banks included. Palestine secured one position.
The ranking was based on reported loan portfolios, converted into U.S. dollars, providing a standardized basis for comparison across banking institutions. Banks that did not disclose official financial data were excluded to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the ranking methodology.
Top 10 Lending Banks in the Middle East and North Africa – End of 2025
Qatar National Bank (QNB) ranked first, with a loan portfolio totaling US$278.54 billion.
Al Rajhi Bank secured second place, with loans amounting to US$200.69 billion at the end of 2025.
Saudi National Bank (SNB) ranked third, with a loan portfolio of approximately US$194.44 billion at the end of December 2025.
Emirates NBD came fourth, reporting loans of approximately US$172.31 billion at the end of 2025.
First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) ranked fifth, with a loan portfolio totaling approximately US$167.81 billion by the end of 2025.
Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) secured sixth place, with loans amounting to US$110.53 billion.
Ziraat Bankası ranked seventh, reporting a loan portfolio of approximately US$109.91 billion at the end of 2025.
Riyad Bank came eighth, with loans totaling approximately US$99.53 billion by the end of 2025.
National Bank of Egypt (NBE) ranked ninth, with a loan portfolio of approximately US$94.10 billion at the end of December 2025.
National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) completed the top ten, with loans totaling approximately US$87.09 billion at the end of 2025.
It is worth noting that the ranking covers parent banking groups across the Middle East and North Africa and does not include their foreign subsidiaries.
