Samba Financial Group, Saudi Arabia's third-largest bank by assets, reported a 1.4 per cent drop in second-quarter net profit on Monday, in line with analysts' forecasts.

The bank made a profit of SR1.31 billion ($349.3 million) in the three months to June 30, down from SR1.33 billion in the same period a year earlier, it said in a bourse statement.

Six analysts polled by Reuters had on average forecast the bank would make a quarterly net profit of  SR1.3 billion.

The bank attributed its drop in net profit to a 6.4 per cent rise in total operating expenses as a result of an increase in salaries and related expenses and higher credit provisions.

This offset the benefits from a 15.2 per cent rise in profits from special commissions, which increased to SR1.34 billion. Operating income for the quarter advanced 1.1 per cent on the corresponding period of 2015 to SR1.97 billion.

Saudi companies issue brief earnings statements early in the reporting period before publishing more detailed results later.

The kingdom's banks are finding themselves in a trickier operating environment than they've become accustomed to in recent years as weaker oil prices pressure liquidity and slow economic growth to its lowest pace in three years.

Loans and advances at the end of June stood at SR130.8 billion, falling 0.1 per cent on the same point of 2015, while deposits rose 0.7 per cent to SR172.1 billion over the same period.

The bank said on June 30 it proposed a cash dividend of 0.45 riyals per share for the opening half of 2016. It is the same amount as it paid for the first six months of last year, according to Thomson Reuters data.-Reuters