Kuwaiti banks lead with robust capital of $35.6 billion and $336.6 billion in assets

• Data on the 100 strongest Arab banks by capital shows a total core capital of approximately $451.9 billion, with assets totaling around $4.2 trillion, said WissamFattouh, the Secretary-General of the Union.

The General Secretariat of the Union of Arab Banks has revealed that seven Kuwaiti banks are among the 100 most powerful Arab banks for 2023, as reported by Al Rai newspaper.

The National Bank of Kuwait ranked first locally and ninth in the Arab world on the list in terms of capital, followed by Kuwait Finance House (KFH), which ranked second locally and tenth in the Arab world. Burgan Bank came third locally and 38th in the Arab world.

Gulf Bank ranked fourth locally and 42nd in the Arab world, followed by the Commercial Bank of Kuwait in fifth place locally and 49th in the Arab world.

Ahli United Bank, which merged with KFH, ranked sixth locally and 51st in the Arab world, while Kuwait International Bank (KIB) secured seventh place locally and 61st in the Arab world.

KFH ranked first locally and eighth in Arab world in terms of assets

In terms of assets, KFH ranked first locally and eighth in the Arab world, followed by the National Bank of Kuwait in second place locally and ninth in the Arab world.

Burgan Bank took third place locally and 41st in the Arab world, Gulf Bank ranked fourth locally and 42nd in the Arab world, and Ahli United Bank came fifth locally and 44th in the Arab world. Al-Tijari ranked sixth locally and 57th in the Arab world, followed by KIB in seventh place locally and 64th in the Arab world.

Wissam Fattouh, the Secretary-General of the Union, stated in a statement that the combined capital of the seven banks amounted to approximately $35.6 billion, with their assets totaling about $336.6 billion.

He explained that data on the 100 strongest Arab banks in terms of capital revealed that the total core capital of these banks was approximately $451.9 billion, while their assets amounted to around $4.2 trillion.

The United Arab Emirates recorded the highest number of Arab banks on the list of the 100 strongest banks, with 18 Emirati banks, followed by Egypt with 12 banks, Saudi Arabia with 11 banks, and Bahrain and Jordan with nine banks each.

Qatar and Morocco each had eight banks, while Kuwait and the Sultanate of Oman were represented by seven banks each. Tunisia had six banks, Lebanon and Algeria had two banks each, and Palestine was represented by onebank.

Fattouh also stated that 21 Islamic banks were included in the list of the 100 most powerful Arab banks based on core capital in 2022. These included four banks each from Qatar and Saudi Arabia, three banks each from Kuwait, the UAE, and Bahrain, two banks from Egypt, and 1 bank each from Jordan and the Sultanate of Oman.