{"id":105159,"date":"2026-03-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/?p=105159"},"modified":"2026-03-10T04:10:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T04:10:38","slug":"banks-face-a-usd-152-bn-liquidity-gap-as-regional-tensions-threaten-to-spike-funding-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2026\/03\/10\/banks-face-a-usd-152-bn-liquidity-gap-as-regional-tensions-threaten-to-spike-funding-costs\/","title":{"rendered":"Banks face a USD 152 bn liquidity gap as regional tensions threaten to spike funding costs"},"content":{"rendered":"

The escalation is testing the liquidity buffers of Saudi banks<\/strong>, threatening to drive up the cost of wholesale funding just as lenders need it most to finance Vision 2030. A prolonged regional conflict could trigger between USD 111-260 bn in deposit outflows across the broader GCC, according to a recent Bloomberg Intelligence report picked up by Asharq Business<\/a> and an article<\/a> by Fitch Solutions\u2019 research unit BMI. <\/p>\n

Saudi banks are heading into this storm with less structural liquidity than their regional <\/strong>peers.<\/strong> The Kingdom\u2019s banking sector is currently sitting on a negative cashflow gap of SAR 572 bn (USD 152 bn), equating to roughly 12% of total assets. Some lenders, including Bank Al Jazira, Saib, Saudi Awwal Bank, Banque Saudi Fransi, and Alinma, are showing notable negative liquidity gaps.<\/p>\n

\n

Why it matters<\/p>\n

The real vulnerability for Saudi lenders is the wholesale debt market.<\/strong> Since 2022, Saudi banks have aggressively expanded their reliance on short-term external funding, such as certificates of deposit, which now make up 28% of their funding sources.<\/p>\n

If airspace closures, trade disruptions, and war-risk premiums persist<\/strong>, the cost of this vital cross-border funding will spike, squeezing net interest margins and potentially slowing capital accumulation. This dynamic could ultimately complicate the massive pipeline of corporate lending required to back the Kingdom\u2019s gigaprojects.<\/p>\n

The silver lining? High oil prices and heavy state backing.<\/strong> Elevated oil prices translate directly into stronger government revenues, providing a crucial tailwind for state deposits. Government and state-linked entities already account for 32% of all deposits in the Saudi banking sector, offering a massive domestic firewall against external shocks.<\/p>\n

ALSO- Expats make up only 44% of the Kingdom's population <\/strong>\u2014 meaning Saudi banks are far less exposed to the sudden \u201cflight to safety\u201d retail withdrawals currently threatening the UAE.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A prolonged regional conflict could trigger between USD 111-260 bn in deposit outflows across the GCC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":105160,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_primary_brand":0,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2617],"tags":[4855,19,10],"brand":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"class_list":["post-105159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-banking","tag-bank","tag-banking","tag-enterpriseam-ksa","wpautop","entry"],"acf":{"mongo_id":"facca4de-4a16-402f-b200-11d7a57ef273","order":"6","is_powered_by":false,"story_type":"1","photo_url":"https:\/\/ent.news\/2025\/9\/1711.jpg","photo_position":"above","homepage_title":"","full_issue_title":"The liquidity gap facing Saudi banks","related_issue":[105149],"teaser":"A prolonged regional conflict could trigger between USD 111-260 bn in deposit outflows across the GCC"},"yoast_head":"\nBanks face a USD 152 bn liquidity gap as regional tensions threaten to spike funding costs - KSA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2026\/03\/10\/banks-face-a-usd-152-bn-liquidity-gap-as-regional-tensions-threaten-to-spike-funding-costs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Banks face a USD 152 bn liquidity gap as regional tensions threaten to spike funding costs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A prolonged regional conflict could trigger between USD 111-260 bn in deposit outflows across the GCC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2026\/03\/10\/banks-face-a-usd-152-bn-liquidity-gap-as-regional-tensions-threaten-to-spike-funding-costs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"KSA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-10T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-10T04:10:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/9\/1711.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"enterpriseam admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"enterpriseam admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2026\/03\/10\/banks-face-a-usd-152-bn-liquidity-gap-as-regional-tensions-threaten-to-spike-funding-costs\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2026\/03\/10\/banks-face-a-usd-152-bn-liquidity-gap-as-regional-tensions-threaten-to-spike-funding-costs\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"enterpriseam admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/#\/schema\/person\/ca597032db7e4db868359c123cec256d\"},\"headline\":\"Banks face a USD 152 bn liquidity gap as regional tensions threaten to spike funding costs\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-10T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-10T04:10:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2026\/03\/10\/banks-face-a-usd-152-bn-liquidity-gap-as-regional-tensions-threaten-to-spike-funding-costs\/\"},\"wordCount\":303,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2026\/03\/10\/banks-face-a-usd-152-bn-liquidity-gap-as-regional-tensions-threaten-to-spike-funding-costs\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/9\/1711.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1\",\"keywords\":[\"Bank\",\"BANKING\",\"EnterpriseAM KSA\"],\"articleSection\":[\"BANKING\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2026\/03\/10\/banks-face-a-usd-152-bn-liquidity-gap-as-regional-tensions-threaten-to-spike-funding-costs\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2026\/03\/10\/banks-face-a-usd-152-bn-liquidity-gap-as-regional-tensions-threaten-to-spike-funding-costs\/\",\"name\":\"Banks face a USD 152 bn liquidity gap as regional tensions threaten to spike funding costs - KSA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2026\/03\/10\/banks-face-a-usd-152-bn-liquidity-gap-as-regional-tensions-threaten-to-spike-funding-costs\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2026\/03\/10\/banks-face-a-usd-152-bn-liquidity-gap-as-regional-tensions-threaten-to-spike-funding-costs\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/9\/1711.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-10T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-10T04:10:38+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2026\/03\/10\/banks-face-a-usd-152-bn-liquidity-gap-as-regional-tensions-threaten-to-spike-funding-costs\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2026\/03\/10\/banks-face-a-usd-152-bn-liquidity-gap-as-regional-tensions-threaten-to-spike-funding-costs\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2026\/03\/10\/banks-face-a-usd-152-bn-liquidity-gap-as-regional-tensions-threaten-to-spike-funding-costs\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/9\/1711.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/9\/1711.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2026\/03\/10\/banks-face-a-usd-152-bn-liquidity-gap-as-regional-tensions-threaten-to-spike-funding-costs\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Banks face a USD 152 bn liquidity gap as regional tensions threaten to spike funding costs\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/\",\"name\":\"KSA\",\"description\":\"The State of the Nation\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/#organization\",\"name\":\"KSA\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ent.news\/internal\/42482.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/ent.news\/internal\/42482.svg\",\"caption\":\"KSA\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/#\/schema\/person\/ca597032db7e4db868359c123cec256d\",\"name\":\"enterpriseam admin\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/enterpriseam.testing.projectsarea.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/author\/enterpriseam\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Banks face a USD 152 bn liquidity gap as regional tensions threaten to spike funding costs - KSA","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2026\/03\/10\/banks-face-a-usd-152-bn-liquidity-gap-as-regional-tensions-threaten-to-spike-funding-costs\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Banks face a USD 152 bn liquidity gap as regional tensions threaten to spike funding costs","og_description":"A prolonged regional conflict could trigger between USD 111-260 bn in deposit outflows across the GCC","og_url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2026\/03\/10\/banks-face-a-usd-152-bn-liquidity-gap-as-regional-tensions-threaten-to-spike-funding-costs\/","og_site_name":"KSA","article_published_time":"2026-03-10T00:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-03-10T04:10:38+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/9\/1711.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"enterpriseam admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"enterpriseam admin","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2026\/03\/10\/banks-face-a-usd-152-bn-liquidity-gap-as-regional-tensions-threaten-to-spike-funding-costs\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2026\/03\/10\/banks-face-a-usd-152-bn-liquidity-gap-as-regional-tensions-threaten-to-spike-funding-costs\/"},"author":{"name":"enterpriseam admin","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/#\/schema\/person\/ca597032db7e4db868359c123cec256d"},"headline":"Banks face a USD 152 bn liquidity gap as regional tensions threaten to spike funding costs","datePublished":"2026-03-10T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-10T04:10:38+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2026\/03\/10\/banks-face-a-usd-152-bn-liquidity-gap-as-regional-tensions-threaten-to-spike-funding-costs\/"},"wordCount":303,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2026\/03\/10\/banks-face-a-usd-152-bn-liquidity-gap-as-regional-tensions-threaten-to-spike-funding-costs\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/9\/1711.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","keywords":["Bank","BANKING","EnterpriseAM KSA"],"articleSection":["BANKING"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2026\/03\/10\/banks-face-a-usd-152-bn-liquidity-gap-as-regional-tensions-threaten-to-spike-funding-costs\/","url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2026\/03\/10\/banks-face-a-usd-152-bn-liquidity-gap-as-regional-tensions-threaten-to-spike-funding-costs\/","name":"Banks face a USD 152 bn liquidity gap as regional tensions threaten to spike funding costs - KSA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2026\/03\/10\/banks-face-a-usd-152-bn-liquidity-gap-as-regional-tensions-threaten-to-spike-funding-costs\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2026\/03\/10\/banks-face-a-usd-152-bn-liquidity-gap-as-regional-tensions-threaten-to-spike-funding-costs\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/9\/1711.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","datePublished":"2026-03-10T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-10T04:10:38+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2026\/03\/10\/banks-face-a-usd-152-bn-liquidity-gap-as-regional-tensions-threaten-to-spike-funding-costs\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2026\/03\/10\/banks-face-a-usd-152-bn-liquidity-gap-as-regional-tensions-threaten-to-spike-funding-costs\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2026\/03\/10\/banks-face-a-usd-152-bn-liquidity-gap-as-regional-tensions-threaten-to-spike-funding-costs\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/9\/1711.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/9\/1711.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2026\/03\/10\/banks-face-a-usd-152-bn-liquidity-gap-as-regional-tensions-threaten-to-spike-funding-costs\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Banks face a USD 152 bn liquidity gap as regional tensions threaten to spike funding costs"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/#website","url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/","name":"KSA","description":"The State of the Nation","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/#organization","name":"KSA","url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ent.news\/internal\/42482.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ent.news\/internal\/42482.svg","caption":"KSA"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/#\/schema\/person\/ca597032db7e4db868359c123cec256d","name":"enterpriseam admin","sameAs":["http:\/\/enterpriseam.testing.projectsarea.com"],"url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/author\/enterpriseam\/"}]}},"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/9\/1711.jpg?resize=600%2C400&ssl=1","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/9\/1711.jpg?resize=600%2C600&ssl=1","author_info":{"display_name":"enterpriseam admin","author_link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/author\/enterpriseam\/"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/9\/1711.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105159"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105159\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105189,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105159\/revisions\/105189"}],"acf:post":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue\/105149"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105159"},{"taxonomy":"brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/brand?post=105159"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=105159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}