Banks dominate GB GCC Top 150 rankings, says Gulf Business magazine

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Research for the annual Gulf Business Top 150 Listed Companies in the GCC, which ranks companies based on their market capitalisation as of August 5, revealed that the number of banks and finance companies in the Top 150 stood at 63, or 42% of the Top 150.

The combined market capitalisation of the banks and finance companies worked out to $369bn, or more than 40% of the $916bn registered by the Top 150. Of this, the market cap of the 48 banks alone that made it to the Top 150 listings stood at more than $320bn.

Gulf Business magazine, the premier business monthly for the GCC, has announced the launch of its September edition, which includes its annual landmark Gulf Business Top 150 Listed Companies in the GCC survey. According to the survey, the combined value of the top 150 listed companies in the GCC went up by $213bn in the past one year and, at $916bn, is inching toward the $1 trillion-mark.

Now in its ninth year, the annual Gulf Business Top 150 Listed Companies in the GCC survey, conducted for the magazine by Shuaa Capital, is the most definitive ranking of the listed companies in the region. This year's listing ranks the top 150 companies based on their market capitalisation as of August 5, 2008.

According to the listing, overall third-ranked Al-Rajhi Bank topped the sectoral listings with a market cap of more than $32bn. Kuwait Finance House (overall rank: 7), with a market cap of $21.68bn, came second in sectoral honours, followed by National Bank of Kuwait ($18.7bn).

The other banks and financial companies that made up the Top 10 include Samba Financial Group ($16.26bn), Emirates NBD ($16.23bn), SABB ($14.22bn), Qatar National bank ($13.96bn), Riyad bank ($13.1bn), Saudi French Bank ($11.66bn) and National Bank of Abu Dhabi ($10.72bn).

The Dubai-based market index, Dubai Financial Market, or DFM, was the topmost financial firm (other than banks) with a market cap of $9.84bn. Unlike the overall rankings, where Saudi companies dominated, the banking and finance firms' listings was dominated by UAE-based companies, with 18 banks and finance companies making the cut, closely followed by Kuwait (16 banks and finance firms in the Top 150), Saudi Arabia (11), Bahrain (9), Qatar (7) and Oman (2).