Oman-BankDhofar, BankMuscat among top GCC performers 

(MENAFN - Muscat Daily) With the GCC banking sector showing a general trend of modest recovery this year, Oman's BankDhofar and BankMuscat were ranked among the top ten performing banks in the region, according to a survey conducted by Gulf Business.

According to the survey, Saudi Arabian banks posted bumper profit growth and lead the region's banking recovery. The survey said that the outlook for the GCC banking sector remains optimistic for 2012.

The survey compared first half of 2011 and first half of 2012 profits and ranked the banks with the highest percentage of growth.

Most of the top ten lenders were from a lower base than their weightier counterparts, however the mammoth profit jumps are evidence of a grassroots regional recovery as banks in Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar feel the buoying effects of mega-government spending sprees, the survey report said.

Saudi Arabia's Bank Albild, which specialises in Islamic finance products for retail and investment banking, topped the list with 385 per cent growth in profit to US177.3mn up from US36.5mn last year.

BankDhofar was the second best performing bank in the GCC. BankDhofar, which made a loss of US11.9mn in the first half of 2011 on a provision of RO26mn in a lawsuit filled by Oman International Bank, bounced back in 2012 to post a net profit of US50.6mn in the six-month period ending June 30.

BankMuscat was placed eighth on the list.

The other GCC banks on the top ten list are: Saudi Arabia's Bank AlJazira, Alinma Bank, Saudi Hollandi Bank; Kuwait's Burgan Bank and Boubyan Bank, Sharjah Islamic Bank and Qatar National Bank.