Saudi Hollandi eyes 20% cap rise to support growth

Saudi Hollandi Bank, partly owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland, will ask shareholders to approve a capital increase to help support the bank's growth, it said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday. The 20-percent increase, which will see the bank's capital increased from SR3.31bn ($882.56m) to SR3.97bn, will be voted on by shareholders at a meeting during the first quarter of 2012, the statement said. The issue, which will see one bonus share distributed for every five shares owned, still requires regulatory approval from the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, the kingdom's central bank. The Saudi banking sector is expected to post higher revenues in 2012, fuelled by higher loan growth and fee income and falling provisions for bad loans, NCB Capital said in a report on Tuesday. Saudi Hollandi posted a 251-percent rise in third quarter net profits in October of SR299.4m, exceeding the SR244.5m average forecast of seven analysts. Saudi Hollandi is currently the eighth largest bank in the kingdom by market capitalisation.