Mohammad Alsharif

Using quarterly data from 2010 to 2019, this paper investigates the impact of listing status on the performance of the National Commercial Bank (NCB), the largest commercial bank in Saudi Arabia, by applying a combination of financial ratios analysis and efficient frontier analysis with a mix of parametric and non-parametric tests. The overall results show that although the NCB performance is superior compared to their counterparts, this superiority has deteriorated after the bank was listed in 2014. This result was captured by the deterioration in the efficiency measures of NCB, indicating the significance of using the efficient frontier analysis as an additional monitoring tool by the Saudi regulators. The financial ratios analysis also shows that even though the NCB profitability has increased, there is an increase in the bank’s overall risk after being listed. Therefore, Saudi regulators should closely monitor their listed banks as these banks are directed toward high-risk assets.