Banks gear up for retail competition

Saudi Arabia’s banks are bracing themselves for a period of intense competition as they fight to win a bigger share of a rapidly expanding but increasingly sophisticated retail market. To meet this challenge, they have rolled out or are preparing to launch new products, particularly for Islamic and internet banking, and to develop personal and mortgage lending.

“The banking sector is coming out of a phase, which has lasted slightly more than a year, when there was a lot of liquidity and not much action on the assets side.