SABB well-positioned to sustain growth, holds high liquidity: Chairperson

Saudi British Bank (SABB) is well-positioned to sustain future growth, which is expected to maintain a slower pace in the short term, Lubna Sulaiman Olayan, chairperson of SABB, said in a statement while commenting on the bank’s Q3 2020 financials.

“SABB still has robust capital and abundant liquidity, despite fierce competition and other operating challenges in the industry amid the COVID-19 outbreak,” Olayan said.

Cost of credit risk fell sharply in Q3 2020, which reflects sufficient provisioning to date, she added.

“We are closer to finalizing the full integration between SABB and Alawwal Bank to launch the new entity. The corporate banking portfolio was almost transferred, and the full integration will be complete in H1 2021 as scheduled,” Olayan said.

“Currently, both institutions are acting as an integrated bank. We are bracing for opportunities, in addition to risk management, to finalize the potential integration,” she added.

The negative repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic are still apparent in the near term; however, SABB is keen on supporting its clients thanks to operations resilience.

Olayan also hailed the backing from the government and the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA), which helped the banking institutions survive the economic challenges of the COVID-19 outbreak. Saudi British Bank (SABB) reported a net loss of SAR 4.8 billion for the first nine months of 2020, against a net profit of SAR 2 billion a year earlier, Argaam reported.