Significant Growth in Core Banking Revenues Al Eisa: Samba Net Profits Rose by 2% in the Fourth Quarter 2007

His Excellency, Mr. Eisa Al-Eisa, the MD & CEO of Samba Financial Group has announced its financial results for the 4th Qtr 2007 and the year ended Dec 31, 2007.

"Samba's 4Q07 net income attributable to the shareholders is SR 955 million which increased by 2% over the same quarter last year which was SR 938 million. Total Operating income at SR 1.6 billion increased by more than 5%, whereas Net Special Commission Income at SR 1.3 billion increased by 13% over 4Q06.

"The overall financial performance of the Bank continues to be strong with significant growth in consumer, corporate and treasury businesses" Al Eisa said and added "Such positive result and string growth reflects our clients' continued trust and support. We also continued to enjoy strong capitalization backed with strong financial position. Shareholders' equity hit SR 17.9 billion, total assets at 154 billion were higher 24.5% compared to SR 124 billion last year, investments at SR 54 billion were up by 42% compared to SR 38 billion in Dec 2006, while total loans and advances stood at SR 81 billion, up by 21% vs. last year. Total deposits were SR 116 billion, up 22% since last year. Net Special Commission Income at SR 4.94 billion increased by 15% over 2006, Foreign Exchange income rose by 56.5% to SR 431 million.

Total revenues for 2007 recorded SR 7.2 billion, lower by 1% than SR 7.3 billion of last year, the net income for the shareholders for full year 2007 was SR 4.8 billion compared to SR 5.2 billion for last year - a decrease of 7.3%. Our ROA and ROE in 2007 were 3.5% and 29.2% respectively".

Al Eisa added that Samba has achieved this excellent performance despite the drop in the brokerage and asset management revenues across all the banking and investment industry. The broad based growth in the consumer and corporate businesses is adding diversity and quality to our core revenues from customers. We expect this to continue and with the bright prospects in the macro-economic indicators, we are hopeful to achieve better results in future.

Al Eisa further confirmed that 2007 is yet another successful year for Samba Financial Group, which continues to play its leading role in the local and regional financial and banking business. We entered into several huge financing deals with different leading national institutions depending on our strong financial base that enables us to support our clients and accordingly the national economy. In addition to this, we were given more than 20 accolades in 2007 from prominent international organizations.

Among such accolades are: "Best Bank in Saudi Arabia" from Euromoney, "Best Bank in Saudi Arabia" from Global Finance, "Bank of the year in Saudi Arabia" from the Banker, "Best Investment Bank in the Middle East" from Euromoney, "Best Investment Bank in the Middle East and North Africa" from Global Finance, "Best Deal in the Kingdom" from the Banker, and many more accolades from different international specialized leading agencies that build their judgments on multi-tier evaluations by specialized judges and industry experts, which reflect our sustainable high performance and provision of service in international standards. 2007 witnessed also the start of Samba Pakistan, in addition to opening recently our fully fledged branch in Dubai.

Concluding his statement, Mr. Al-Eisa affirmed Samba's resolve to deliver quality results and strong balance sheet to shareholders through a strategy of prudent and diversified growth at the back of strong economic fundamentals. He further extended his thanks to Samba clients for their confidence and Samba staff for their dedication and loyalty which stand behind all good results.