Meet The Banking Heavyweights Of The Middle East
- The top 50 banks represent 10 markets and are worth a total of $548.1 billion.
- Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. comprise 40% of the top banks list, with 10 entries each.
Beirut, April 11, 2023: Forbes Middle East has revealed its ranking of the region’s Top 50 Most Valuable Banks 2023, recognizing the Middle East’s biggest banking titans. To construct the list, Forbes Middle East gathered data from listed stock exchanges in the Arab world and ranked companies based on their reported market value as of February 28, 2023.
The 50 banks have an aggregate market value of $548.1 billion. With a market cap of $75 billion, Saudi’s Al Rajhi Bank is the largest bank in the region. Saudi National Bank and Qatar’s QNB Group round up the top three, with $56.4 billion and $42.8 billion in market cap, respectively. Collectively, these three companies have a valuation of $174.2 billion, accounting for nearly 32% of the total list.
The ranking features entities from 10 markets, although GCC banks dominate with 41 entries, representing 82% of the list. Overall, Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. are home to the most banks on the list, with 10 entries each, constituting 40% of the ranking.
Saudi Arabia’s 10 most valuable banks have an aggregate market value of $223.5 billion. The U.A.E.’s 10 entries are worth $121.2 billion, Qatar’s eight banks have a market value of $81.3 billion, and Kuwait’s seven entries are worth $76.2 billion.
Increasingly, banks in the region are backing sustainable finance investments and securing deals to boost energy-efficient customer offerings. Under the National Bank of Kuwait’s pledge to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, it installed 12 electric vehicle charging stations at different levels of the multi-story car park attached to its green headquarters in 2022. The bank also joined the United Nations Global Compact in February 2023. In April 2022, Qatar’s Masraf Al Rayan announced the launch of its sustainable financing framework to offer ESG-linked funding opportunities to investors. And the Commercial Bank of Dubai partnered with Sharaf DG in September 2022 to enable customers to adopt clean energy by installing Solar PV Systems for their homes from Sharaf DG Energy via a sustainable and digital financing option from CBD.
| Top 50 Most Valuable Banks In The Middle East 2023: Country Breakdown | |||||||
| Saudi Arabia | 10 | Kuwait | 7 | Jordan | 3 | Tunisia | 1 |
| U.A.E. | 10 | Morocco | 4 | Bahrain | 2 | ||
| Qatar | 8 | Oman | 4 | Egypt | 1 |
Click here for the complete list of the Top 50 Most Valuable Banks In The Middle East 2023.
Top 5 Most Valuable Banks In The Middle East 2023
1 | Al Rajhi Bank
Country: Saudi Arabia
Market value: $75 billion
CEO and Managing Director: Waleed Abdullah Al-Mogbel
2 | Saudi National Bank (SNB)
Country: Saudi Arabia
Market value: $56.4 billion
Acting CEO: Talal Ahmed Al Khereiji
3 | QNB Group
Country: Qatar
Market value: $42.8 billion
Group CEO: Abdulla Mubarak Al-Khalifa
4 | First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB)
Country: U.A.E.
Market value: $42.4 billion
Group CEO: Hana Al Rostamani
5 | Kuwait Finance House
Country: Kuwait
Market value: $37.5 billion
Acting Group CEO and Group Chief Treasury and Financial Institutions Officer: Abdulwahab Iesa Alrushood
About Forbes Middle East
Forbes Middle East is a licensed edition of Forbes for the Arab world, championing inspiring business journalism and entrepreneurial capitalism. Its online and social platforms break news covering billionaires, business, investment, technology, economy, entrepreneurship, leadership, and luxury lifestyles. The monthly magazine, featuring in-depth interviews with the Middle East’s most influential and innovative leaders, is published in print in English and Arabic, with digital versions available to both regional and global audiences online. Forbes Middle East extends the Forbes brand of journalism across the Arab world, conducting its own comprehensive research to publish original lists that adhere to strict methodologies. Its content attracts business leaders, investors, active and potential entrepreneurs, and a wide audience of ambitious and influential executives.