Bank Al Jazira has reaped big rewards from a recent surge in trading activity on the main Saudi index.
Daily average traded value on the Tadawul has risen from 8.7 billion riyals on March 14 to about 10bn riyals yesterday, which translates into greater revenue from stock trading fees for Bank Al Jazira.
The country's smallest lender by market value, it relies mostly on income from investment banking and brokerage services.
"Smaller players will see the biggest impact on net earnings from variability in the average value traded," said Farouk Miah, an analyst at NCB Capital in Riyadh.
Al Jazira is the most "sensitive" to changes in trading patterns, he added.
If the momentum continues, it could lead to a 71.3 per cent jump in net profit, from 303 million riyals last year, Mr Miah believes.
Al Jazira's brokerage arm has a 19 per cent market share in the kingdom.
The Tadawul All-Share Index has risen by about 24 per cent since the start of the year amid higher oil prices, government spending and the possibility that the market will be opened up to foreign investors.
"We can see the money everywhere, floating in the economy," said Sebastien Henin, a portfolio manager at The National Investor in Abu Dhabi.
"Capital expenditures are on the rise, and more importantly, the mood has been improving."
Al Jazira posted a fourth-quarter profit of 110m riyals after a loss of 27m riyals in the year earlier period as costs declined and income from basic banking activities grew.
The bank offered a dividend of 0.5 riyals per share for last year, compared with no payouts in 2010 and 2009.
Saudi Arabia's regulator on Tuesday said an opening up of the kingdom's bourse would be "gradual".
"It is still within our strategy, but it should be done in an orderly and gradual manner," Abdulrahman Al Tawaijri, the chairman of the Capital Markets Authority, told reporters in Riyadh.
