Samba Financial Group, Saudi Arabia's second-largest lender by market value, posted a 8.8 per cent drop in third-quarter net profit after a decline in lending income.

The bank made SR1.1 billion ($294.1 million) in the three months to end-September, compared with SR1.21 billion in the same period a year ago, the bank said in a statement.

The earnings came below the average analyst forecast for a quarterly net profit of SR1.2 billion, according to a Reuters survey earlier this month.

Net lending income fell 14.4 per cent to SR1.11 billion in the third quarter.-Reuters