Kuwaiti Banks Rated High Among Emerging Markets

Four Kuwaiti banks make a mark among the top 100 banks in emerging markets, according to a report issued by the Fitch Ratings Agency.

The four banks are the National Bank of Kuwait with total assets of US$109.9 billion and total loans of US$67.3 billion as at the end of the fiscal year 2021; followed by Kuwait Finance House with total assets of US$72 billion and loans of US$39.7 billion, in third place is the Burgan Bank with total assets of US$72 billion and US$23.4 billion in total loans, and then comes the Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait with total assets of US$18.6 billion and total loans of US$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 included one Omani bank and a Bahraini bank.

Fitch stated that it is launching a series of reports that follow a sample of 100 large banks from emerging markets, 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 updated on a semi-annual basis.

The largest banks by asset volume in the sample are located in China, followed by Brazil, India, Qatar and the UAE.