«First Bank» Ranking of the Top 100 Arab Banks

The Rankings Center of «First Bank» launched the «Brand Strength index»  to track the strongest 100 banks in the Arab world, aiming to provide a more comprehensive framework for assessing the relative strength of Arab banks — one that doesn't just measure their size, but extends to evaluating their ability to achieve sustainable and balanced growth across key financial indicators.

The «Brand Strength index» combines a bank's size with the performance of its main financial indicators, including growth in deposits, loans, profits, and assets (after excluding the loans item, to avoid double-counting the same effect since loans are already included within total assets).

This provides an assessment that reflects a bank's relative strength and its ability to achieve balanced growth, on a scale ranging from zero to 100 points.

Applying the «Brand Strength index» methodology to Arab banks, First Abu Dhabi Bank topped the ranking, scoring 87.92 points, based on an asset base that exceeded $405 billion by the end of March 2026, in addition to recording strong and balanced growth across the various financial indicators included in the index calculation, with a compound growth rate of about 39.62%.

These results reflect the bank's ability to combine large scale with strong performance, which gave it a clear edge in the index and solidified its position as the strongest Arab Bank.

Qatar National Bank (QNB) came in second place in the ranking, after scoring 83.52 points, supported by assets that recorded $386.91 billion by the end of last March, alongside achieving a compound growth rate of 36.2% during the first quarter of 2026.

Emirates NBD came in third place, after achieving 73.33 points, benefiting from its rise to third place among the largest Arab banks, with an asset size of $331.2 billion by the end of March 2026, in addition to achieving a compound growth rate of 40.20% during the first quarter of the current year.

Saudi National Bank came in fourth place with an index of 72.01 points, supported by its ownership of assets amounting to about $327.4 billion by the close of last March, in addition to achieving a compound growth rate of 37.45% during the first quarter of 2026.

Al Rajhi Bank held fifth place, with an index score of 62.44 points, as its assets reached about $280.1 billion by the end of last March, and it achieved a compound growth rate of 36.19% during the first quarter of 2026.

As for sixth place, it went to Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, with an index of 51.63 points, driven by assets of $220.20 billion, and a compound growth rate of 41.26% during the first quarter of 2026 — the highest growth rate among the top ten banks.

Starting from seventh place, a clear gap emerged between the leading group and the rest of the top ten banks, as the gap between sixth and seventh place reached about 11.78 points, the largest gap between two consecutive positions within the top ten.

National Bank of Egypt claimed seventh place, after scoring 39.85 points, with assets recorded at about $173.51 billion by the end of March 2026, while achieving a compound growth rate of 28.41% during the first quarter of the current year.

National Bank of Kuwait came in eighth place, with an index of 36.54 points, after its asset portfolio reached about $150.17 billion by the end of last March, with a compound growth rate of 34.88% during the first quarter of 2026.

Riyad Bank held ninth place, after scoring 35.96 points, as a result of recording an asset size of $143.11 billion by the close of March 2026, and a compound growth rate of 38.98% during the period under analysis.

Kuwait Finance House closed out the top ten list, after scoring 35.30 points, with assets of about $141.87 billion by the end of March 2026, and a recorded compound growth rate of 36.87% during the first three months of the current year.