According to the analysis, GCC banks registered a historical net profit of $16.6 billion in the third quarter of 2025, an improvement of 11.6 percent in the same period compared to the previous year.
Kuwait-based Kamco Invest reported that the net profit of listed GCC banks also increased by 2.2 percent compared to the last quarter, and it is the third consecutive quarterly increase, which was spurred by a broad-based development in revenue and increased cost efficiency.
The performance is in line with a forecast given by an accounting firm, Ernst and Young, in March that the GCC banking industry was set to have a strong growth in 2025 due to continued diversification of the economies and positive global financial trends.
Kamco, in its recent report, indicated that “The sequential increase (of net profit) was once again mainly led by a broad-based increase in revenues for the sector and lower cost-to-income ratio that more than offset an increase in impairments during the quarter.”
It added that “Loan impairments once again witnessed a double-digit increase, reaching a three-quarter high level of $2.6 billion during the third quarter of 2025 vs $2.4 billion during the second quarter of this year.”
Kamco Invest reported that the aggregate banking sector revenues improved on their historic high of $36.8 billion in the quarter, with a three-quarter high sequential growth of 3.3 percent.
Qatari banks reached the strongest sequential revenue expansion at 5.9 percent in the third quarter, as compared to the previous three months. Bahrain-listed banks were ranked second with revenue growth of 5 percent, and UAE-listed banks recorded an expansion of 3.4 percent.
Therefore, the Kuwaiti and Saudi-listed banks were next, with revenue growth of 3.3 percent and 2.1 percent. The lending activity of the listed GCC banks also increased by 3.7 percent in the third quarter, which is among the highest increases in over four years and has led to growth in net loans to $2.31 trillion by the end of September.
Kamco stated that “The growth (in lending) reflected resilient non-oil sector growth in the region with non-oil manufacturing consistently well above the growth mark for key economies in the region.”
Meanwhile, the Gross loans surged by 3.6 percent during the quarter to $2.41 trillion. The aggregate net loan-to-deposit ratio for the GCC banking sector stood high of over 80 percent at the end of the third quarter, reaching 82.8 percent.
Saudi banks recorded a high loan-deposit ratio of 97.6 percent in the third quarter, an increase of 330 basis points over the second quarter due to increased lending and a reduction in customer deposits.
However, Qatari banks came with a loan-deposit ratio of 91 percent in the third quarter, compared to 90.3 percent in the last three months. UAE-listed banks recorded with highest increase in the loan-to-deposit ratio for the second consecutive quarter following a decline in the first quarter.
The aggregate ratio of the UAE banking sector was 69.4 percent, one of the highest ratios of the banking sector, its lowest in the GCC.
