Which banks are winning with Saudi consumers? Uncover the leaders across consideration and customer recommendation, the fastest risers, and the brands capturing Gen Z.
Key insights
- Alrajhi Bank has a clear lead in overall consideration, recommendation and among Gen Z
- Saudi National Bank records the largest year-over-year consideration gain
- Barq and D360 Bank add the clearest new-entrant story, appearing inside the current top 10 in their first tracked year.
- Gen Z mostly aligns with the overall rankings, but ranks Barq #4, a sign that a challenger bank has early visibility among younger consumers
KSA’s banking market is currently being shaped by multiple factors, including Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 agenda. The Financial Sector Development Program describes a goal of building a more diversified, digital, and stable financial sector, including broader financial-services choice, stronger digital infrastructure, and support for fintech-led competition.
While policy sets out the direction, consumer banking choices also depend on familiarity, confidence in the provider, product needs, digital access, and past experiences. YouGov BrandIndex helps track which banks Saudi consumers would consider when they are next in the market to open a bank account or subscribe to a banking product.
In this article, we cover:
- Top 10 banks in KSA by Consideration
- Top 5 most improved banks in KSA by Consideration
- Top 10 banks of Gen Z in KSA by Consideration
- Top 10 most recommended banks in KSA by current & former customers
- Methodology behind the rankings
A clear leader, a narrowing lead, and two names that shouldn't be this high yet
Alrajhi Bank ranks #1, with 47.4% of Saudi consumers saying they would consider the bank when next opening an account or subscribing to a banking product. That puts it 24.6 percentage points ahead. Alinma Bank at 22.8% and Riyad Bank at 22.0%.
The ranking therefore has two different stories. At the top, Alrajhi Bank occupies a distinct position of scale. Below Alinma Bank and Riyad Bank which close out the top 3, the field is more closely grouped, with Bank Al Bilad, Saudi National Bank, SAB – الأول, Barq, and D360 Bank all sitting within 2.7 points of one another.
Barq and D360 Bank are the standout challengers in this ranking. Both have broken into the top 10 in their very first year being tracked by YouGov BrandIndex, Barq at 7th and D360 Bank at 8th, leapfrogging several longer-established players in the sector. That's a strong debut for two newer brands, landing them squarely in the upper half of YouGov's KSA bank rankings right out of the gate. It's still early days to call it a trend, but it's a clear signal that challenger banks are already winning meaningful consideration among consumers.
Saudi National Bank is the most improved bank in KSA
Saudi National Bank records the largest year-over-year gain in consideration, rising from 15.5% to 16.8%, a gain of 1.3%.
The improvers ranking should be read as a measure of relative momentum rather than a major reshuffling of the market.
Gulf International Bank (GIB) follows with a 0.6% gain, while Arab National Bank (ANB) rises by 0.5%. Bank Al Bilad gains 0.4%, and Alinma Bank increases by 0.3%.
The ranking also shows why current strength and improvement should be separated.
Alrajhi Bank leads overall consideration, but Saudi National Bank leads the improvers brand rankings. That distinction helps identify both the bank with the broadest current consideration footprint and the comparable bank with the clearest positive movement over the past year.
Young Saudis appear more open to digital-only banking
Alrajhi Bank also leads among Gen Z, with 48.9% saying they would consider the bank. Alinma Bank ranks 2nd at 21.5%, followed closely by Riyad Bank at 21.1%.
The top 3 among Gen Z closely resembles the overall ranking, which suggests that the broadest banking brands retain visibility among younger consumers as well as the wider market. But the next position changes the story:
Gen Z's preference for Barq (4th, 18.0%), ahead of Saudi National Bank and established players, signals they're reordering the market differently than the broader population. For a new entrant, that is a strong starting position, especially in a market where digital-banking options are becoming more visible.
Saudi National Bank ranks 5th among Gen Z at 14.9%, followed by SAB – الأول, D360 Bank, Bank Al Bilad, Arab National Bank and Saudi Investment Bank.
Alrajhi Bank ranks #1 amongst its customers
Alrajhi Bank ranks 1st , with a net Recommend score of 73.9 among current and former customers. Saudi National Bank follows at 68.7, narrowly ahead of Alinma Bank at 68.1.
Alrajhi Bank leads Saudi National Bank by 5.2 points. But after that, things bunch up fast, Saudi National Bank, in 2nd place is only 3.7 points ahead of Emirates NBD, all the way down in 5th.
Barq is the notable new-entrant story in this customer view. It ranks 4th with a net Recommend score of 66.3, behind only Alrajhi Bank, Saudi National Bank, and Alinma Bank. For a bank that also appeared in the top 10 consideration ranking in its first tracked year, that gives the brand an early benchmark on both market visibility and customer advocacy.
Emirates NBD ranks 5th at 65.0, followed by Gulf International Bank (GIB) at 63.6 and SAB – الأول at 63.0. D360 Bank records a net Recommend score of 61.2, while Saudi Investment Bank and Riyad Bank complete the top 10 at 60.6 and 58.7 respectively.
Methodology
This article draws on YouGov BrandIndex data collected in the Kingdom Saudi Arabia from 1 August 2025 to 31 July 2026. Where year-over-year movement is shown, the comparison period is 1 August 2024 to 31 July 2025.
Consideration is the percentage of respondents who say they would consider a brand the next time they are in the market to open a bank account or subscribe to a banking product. The relevant BrandIndex question is: “When you are in the market next to open a bank account or subscribe to a banking product, from which of the following would you consider opening an account?”
Gen Z refers to respondents born from 1997 to 2012.
Recommendation is reported as a net score among current and former customers. It is based on whether respondents would recommend or avoid a bank to a friend or colleague.
Figures are rounded to one decimal place. Year-over-year movement is calculated only for banks with scores in both periods.
The data analysis in this article was conducted by YouGov with the assistance of AI tools.
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