IslamicFinance.de

Moody's announced that Al Rajhi Bank's dominant Islamic retail franchise will continue to drive a strong financial performance into 2017. Despite pressure on the Saudi economy from lower oil prices, Al Rahji's retail focus delivers solid margins and asset quality. Moody's analyst Nitish Bhojnagarwala said Al Rajhi's Islamic retail portfolio drives higher financing yields and stronger margins than its peers both in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC). Coupled with a modest cost base and relatively lower provisioning, this generated a solid return on assets of 2.5% for the first six months of 2016. Furthermore, strong profits, combined with solid retention rate, provide healthy internal capital generation for the bank, which had a tangible common equity ratio of 19.8% as of June 2016.