The board of directors of Saudi National Bank (SNB), the biggest lender in the kingdom, will pay a cash dividend of 8.5% for the first half of 2023.

The dividend payout to shareholders stands at 5.1 billion riyals ($1.36 billion), the bank said in a statement to the Saudi stock exchange on Wednesday. The dividend per share stands at SAR 0.85 after deduction of Zakat.

The dividend distribution will be on 13 August 2023.

SNB said on Tuesday that its net profit rose 9.3% year-on-year (YoY) to SAR 5.01 billion in the second quarter of 2023 on higher operating income.

Net profit increased by 10.4% YoY to SAR 10.04 billion in the first half of 2023.

(Editing by Brinda Darasha; brinda.darasha@lseg.com)