The Banking Executive Magazine - July 2022 Issue

Kuwaiti Banks Kuwaiti Banks RATED HIGH AMONG EMERGING MARKETS Four Kuwaiti banks make a mark among the top 100 banks in emerg- ing markets, according to a report is- sued by the Fitch Ratings Agency. The four banks are the National Bank of Kuwait with total assets of $109.9 billion and total loans of $67.3 bil- lion as at the end of the fiscal year 2021; followed by Kuwait Finance House with total assets of $72 billion and loans of $39.7 billion, in third place is the Burgan Bank with total assets of $72 billion and $23.4 bil- lion in total loans, and then comes the Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait with total assets of $18.6 billion and total loans of $12 billion. Thus, in the GCC countries Kuwaiti banks rank third in the list equally with Saudi Arabia, with 4 banks each, while the UAE topped with 7 banks, followed by Qatar with a total of 5 banks. In contrast, the list in- cluded one Omani bank and a Bahraini bank. Fitch stated that it is launching a se- ries of reports that follow a sample of 100 large banks from emerging mar- kets, as defined by the International Monetary Fund, explaining that this sample primarily includes banks that issue bonds in the capital markets, and were selected based on the total size to its balance sheets regardless of whether they are classified by Fitch, provided that the report is up- dated on a semi-annual basis. The largest banks by asset volume in the sample are located in China, fol- lowed by Brazil, India, Qatar and the UAE. the BANKING EXECUTIVE 28 ISSUE 163 JULY 2022