In total the 11 largest banks in the Middle East have over $2 trillion U.S. dollars in assets, $1.2 trillion of loans and $1.5 trillion of deposits. Several of these banks operate internationally with branch networks and offices in parts of Europe, Asia, Africa and North America. Of note, two countries are over presented in this list: Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). All the figures shown in the below table are in U.S. Dollars.
- Qatar National Bank – in addition to being the largest bank in the Middle East, Qatar National Bank is also the largest bank in Qatar. The bank is publicly traded with a current market capitalization above $50 billion, and as of this writing the bank employed 27,000 employees and maintained 53 branches in Qatar, 7 branches in the UAE and 231 branches in Egypt.
- First Abu Dhabi Bank – this is the largest in UAE and the result of the merger between FGB and NBAD in 2017. The bank has more than 3 million customers in the UAE, employs more than 6,600 people worldwide and has a presence in 19 markets.
- Saudi National Bank – this is the largest bank operating in Saudi Arabia. It currently has 11 million customers, operates in 7 countries, has 16,991 employees and has 506 branches in Saudi Arabia and 3,073 ATMs.
- Bank Leumi Le-Israel – Bank Leumi is the largest bank in Israel and also one of the oldest banks in the world. Bank Leumi marked its 120th anniversary recently, having been founded in 1902, and opening its first branch in Jaffa in 1903. The bank has over 8,000 employees.
- Bank Hapoalim – this bank is a close second to Bank Leumi in terms of its asset base. It is the second largest bank in Israel and claims to have the largest retail deposit base in the country. The bank has also been operating for more than a century and was founded in 1921.
- Emirates NBD – the bank in its current form is the result of the merger of Emirates Bank International and NBD in 2007. Today Emirates NBD Emirates NBD serves over 14 million customers and employs more than 25,000 people. The bank currently has over 100 branches across the UAE and estimates a market share of 18%.
- Al Rajhi Bank – this is the second largest bank operating in Saudi Arabia, and the world’s largest Islamic Bank. For comparison, the bank is significantly larger than the Islamic Banks in the UAE. It is three times larger than Dubai Islamic Bank, almost six times the size of Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, almost 13 times the size of Emirates Islamic Bank and almost 17 times the size of Sharjah Islamic Bank – this is all based on each bank’s estimated current assets. The bank had 521 branches and 4,891 ATMs in Saudi Arabia as of December 2021 and serves over 12 million customers.
- Mizrahi Tefahot Bank – one of the largest banks operating in Israel. The bank estimates that it has a 37% share of mortgages, 21% share of loans and 18% share of assets within the country as of June 2021. The bank has 197 branches and employs over 7,500 people.
- Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank – this is the third largest bank operating in the UAE. The bank currently has 54 branches and 425 ATMs across the UAE.
- National Bank of Kuwait – this is the largest bank operating in Kuwait with over 30% share of assets in the country. National Bank of Kuwait was established in 1952 and operates across 14 countries with what they describe as a “predominant focus” on the Middle East and Africa region. The bank has 68 branches in Kuwait and 52 branches in its Egyptian subsidiary.
- Israel Discount Bank – this bank has over 200 branches and serves over one million private and corporate customers in Israel. It was founded in 1935 and employs approximately 8,000 people. Though smaller than the top 3 banks in Israel it still maintains significant scale with over $100 billion of assets as of this writing.