CAIRO: Saudi finance companies have shown outstanding performance as their total assets reached SR67 billion ($17.85 billion) in 2021, a 26% increase from 2020, according to a report by the Saudi Central Bank, also known as SAMA.
Aggregate capital jumped 37% to SR19.6 billion in 2021 from SR14.3 billion in 2020.
Net profits also skyrocketed by 114% in 2021, reaching SR 1.9 billion, according to the report.
The credit portfolio stood at SR68.1 billion at the end of 2021, an increase of 26% from its value in 2020.
New financing granted in 2021 amounted to SR25.4 billion, an increase of 47% compared to 2020.
Equity increased by 30% to SR25.5 billion in 2021 from SR19.6 billion in 2020, the report added.
Regarding the distribution of net profit by type of financial company, non-real estate companies recorded SR 1.4 billion while real estate finance companies received a net profit of SR 0.4 billion in 2021.
In addition, the share of non-real estate finance companies in the total loan portfolio was 62% against 38% for real estate finance companies.
The breakdown of the credit portfolio by customer segment is 75% for individuals, 22% for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and 3% for businesses.
In the case of the credit portfolio by primary sectors, residential real estate accounted for 32%, followed by self-financing loans at 27% and personal credit at 21%.
Assessing the distribution of the credit portfolio by economic activity, the three main sectors with the highest shares were trade at 21%, construction at 20%, services at 14% and transport and telecommunications at 9%.
Another 22% of loan facilities were spent on other services not mentioned in detail.
As for non-performing loans, their share in the total loan portfolio of housing finance companies stood at 4.9% in 2021, while the figure of non-housing finance companies was double at 10.1%. The overall share of such loans for all finance companies was 8.6% in 2021.
In terms of non-performing loans by type of business financed, loans made to finance equipment had the highest share of total loans made to that particular business at 28.9%, followed by auto finance 12%, other activities and commercial real estate 8%. each, consumer credit at 7%.
The share of non-performing loans to residential real estate stood at 4.1% and credit card loans at 1.4%, respectively.
As for the distribution of non-performing loans by type of client, the share of such loans was highest in the corporate segment at 21%, followed by MSMEs at 10.8% and individuals at 6.8%.