National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) has built itself into the strongest bank in the Gulf, according to many analysts. But as its home market becomes saturated, NBK is expanding regionally, and that carries a number of risks.

In October, the bank announced yet another period of record profits – this time for the first nine months of 2006. NBK made $647m in the period, up 22 per cent year-on-year, and scored well on the performance ratios that investors like to see (return on equity was an impressive 38 per cent).