Saudi Arabia’s Riyad Bank has posted net profits of SR1.17bn ($312m) for the first quarter of 2015, marking a close to 9 per cent increase on the same quarter the previous year.

The bank has recorded total assets of SR216.5bn in the first quarter of the year, a 2.43 per cent increase compared with the same quarter last year.

Its loans and advances portfolio has reached SR137.62bn, a marginal increase of 0.63 per cent on the same time period last year.

Customer deposits also rose, although at a faster rate of 3 per cent compared to the same quarter in 2014.

Earlier this year, Riyad Bank was one of four Saudi banks put on negative watch by rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P).

While the agency affirmed the high A+A-1 rating for the four banks, the agency did decide to revise downwards the banks’ outlook from the previously assigned “stable” outlook.

The decision was taken following the revision of the sovereign outlook to “negative” in light of the low oil prices, the country’s dependence on the hydrocarbon sector and the plans to maintain high levels of spending.