Saudi Arabia: 95 bank branches close in last year
Branches decreased to 1,969 from 2,064, or 4.8%, while staff declined by 4.2%
Abu Dhabi: Saudi banks closed 95 branches in various regions of the Kingdom in the last year, according to Saudi Central Bank.
Recent data from the Saudi Central Bank showed that the number of bank branches decreased from 2,064 to 1,969, at a rate of 4.8 per cent, while their employees declined by 4.2 per cent.
The closed branches in Riyadh, Mecca and the Eastern Province accounted for more than three-quarters of the closed branches with 87.3 per cent.
Bank branches in the Riyadh region decreased from 621 branches to 592, or 4.9 per cent, accounting for 30.5 per cent of the total closed branches, while the number of branches in the Mecca region dropped from 440 to 413, or 6.5 per cent, after closing 27 branches, representing 28.4 per cent of the total, and the number of branches in the Eastern Province decreased from 402 to 375, or 7.2 per cent after shutting down 27 branches, representing 28.4 per cent of the total.
