* Majed Al-Khalidi from Riyadh
The profits of 86 licensed financial institutions jumped by 40.3 percent to SR 1.26 billion by the end of the third quarter of this year.
Financial institutions recorded an increase in net profit of SR 364 million, compared to the same period last year, which is amounting to 903 million riyals.
Operating income increased by SR 598.9 million, where financial institutions achieved about four billion riyals by the end of the third quarter of this year, compared to SR 3.4 billion for the same period of 2017, an increase of 17.6 percent.
According to the analysis of the unit reports in AlEqtisadiah and based on the data of the Capital Market Authority, financial institutions were affected by the growth of fund assets, growing by 5 percent at the end of the third quarter of 2018, as well as higher brokerage performance during the period.
The financial institutions licensed and achieved a net profit last year with full 1.58 billion riyals, a decline of 7.6 percent compared to a net profit of 1.72 billion riyals in the previous year.
The assets of the public funds traded by these institutions consist of seven assets, where the highest percentage of funds in the money market accounts for 59.3 per cent of total assets, followed by equity funds by about 18.5% and real estate funds traded at 12.1 per cent.
The most developed of these funds by the end of the third quarter of this year, funds for real estate investment rolling, where assets increased by 319 per cent to reach 14.20 billion riyals, compared to the same period last year, which was amounted to 3.39 billion riyals.
Non-tradable real estate assets also rose to SR 8.36 billion at the end of the period, compared to SAR 2.89 billion in the third quarter of last year.
While assets of the funds of shares grew by 0.5 percent to about 21.72 billion riyals, an increase of 115.8 million riyals with equity funds include local and global markets.
The capital of the 86 financial institutions is about SR 15.588 billion, while the financial reserves and retained earnings at the end of the third quarter of this year were about 6.81 billion riyals, representing 43 per cent of the capital, while the assets were amounted to about 32.84 billion riyals by the end of the period.
The financial institutions licensed by the Capital Market Authority in investment work in securities either by dealing or management, in addition to providing advice and preservation.
* Economic Reports Unit
