Tunis Listed · No. 2 · Tunis · October 2026
What net banking income and net profit do not say
Securities portfolio, fees, cost of funding, cost of risk, ROE decomposed: five readings of the accounts of 10 banks listed on the Tunis Stock Exchange. First half of 2026.
Prepared for a reading of the accounts of listed banks. No offer, no solicitation.
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Scope and method
The 10 banks covered have filed their individual interim financial statements at 30 June 2026 with the Conseil du marché financier (CMF). They are Amen Bank, ATB, Attijari Bank, BH Bank, BIAT, BNA, BT, STB, UBCI and UIB. Out of scope: BTE (preferred dividend shares) and Wifak International Bank (an Islamic bank). The note works on individual accounts, not consolidated ones. Where a bank publishes a restated comparative for the first half of 2025, that is the figure used.
Banks appear in alphabetical order in the tables. The note does not rank banks and does not say what should be done. It shows profiles instead.
Net banking income (NBI) and return on equity (ROE) are the two figures everyone quotes. They summarise a great deal and hide almost as much. This note opens them up through five readings, all computed on the published accounts, with no restatement of our own and no allocation assumption.
Five readings of the same accounts. Each answers one question; none ranks the banks.
Net banking income (NBI) blends two businesses. The first is commercial banking: lending, taking deposits, charging for services. The second is holding securities for own account. Its revenue is booked under "income from the investment portfolio".
That portfolio brings together two families of securities. Investment securities are, in principle, held to maturity. They are mostly government paper: fungible Treasury bonds (BTA) and national loans. Equity investments, in subsidiaries and associates, pay dividends.
Taken together, the eight banks that publish this detail hold at least 80% of their investment securities in government paper. The portfolio also includes funds entrusted to venture-capital investment companies (SICAR), known as managed funds, and bond issues. Units in venture-capital mutual funds (FCPR) come on top. Dividends from equity investments vary with what subsidiaries pay out.
Another convention measures the portfolio against NBI.
It has its logic, but it does not measure the same thing. Portfolio income is a gross amount. NBI is a net amount: banking operating expenses, interest first among them, have already been taken out. Yet interest expense funds both businesses at once, and the published accounts do not split it. Dividing a gross figure by a net one therefore inflates the ratio without measuring anything more.
The gap is wide. Across the 10 banks together, the portfolio weighs 23.3% of banking operating income. Measured against NBI, the same income would come to 42.3%, more than 80% higher. The note therefore compares gross with gross: portfolio income against total income, both before any expense.
The same weight can be read on the balance sheet, by measuring the investment portfolio against total assets:
| Bank | Portfolio income / income | Portfolio / total assets |
|---|---|---|
| Amen Bank | 28.2% | 26.7% |
| ATB | 15.1% | 16.6% |
| Attijari Bank | 23.8% | 24.9% |
| BH Bank | 22.7% | 25.9% |
| BIAT | 23.1% | 27.8% |
| BNA | 32.0% | 37.9% |
| BT | 15.7% | 15.6% |
| STB | 32.6% | 31.7% |
| UBCI | 6.9% | 7.9% |
| UIB | 4.9% | 6.6% |
Definitions Portfolio weight
Financial operations (trading securities and foreign exchange) stay with commercial banking: they are not counted in the portfolio share.
Weight of the portfolio, in %
The two columns of the table, side by side.
The spread runs from 1 to more than 6. Three banks draw more than a quarter of their income from their portfolio: Amen Bank, BNA and STB. At BNA and STB, that income comes first from government paper. At Amen Bank, managed funds yield more than Treasury bonds: 35.5% of portfolio income against 31.8%. Attijari Bank, BH Bank and BIAT form a tight group around 23%. ATB and BT sit halfway, around 15%. UBCI and UIB draw most of their income from lending and services.
A point of method for UBCI. It holds a significant share of its government paper in its trading book. The gains go to the financial operations line, not to the investment-portfolio line. With those gains, its weight comes to 18.6% of income. The note's convention leaves financial operations within commercial banking. This precision avoids reading UBCI as a bank without securities.
This weight describes the bank's revenue model, not its profitability. A portfolio of government paper yields a regular income, with no credit-risk provision, and ties up little operating expense. It also makes NBI more sensitive to the path of interest rates and to the State's issuance calendar.
Key takeaways
- The investment portfolio weighs from 4.9% to 32.6% of banking operating income, depending on the bank.
- Three banks exceed a quarter of income.
- The measure is gross on gross: against NBI, the same income would carry a weight more than 80% higher.
The highest NBI is not always the most commercial.
Fees are the part of net banking income (NBI) least exposed to interest rates: account keeping, payment instruments, cards, foreign trade. The question is what share of operating costs they cover on their own. The note measures net fees (fees received less fees paid) against operating costs (staff costs, general operating expenses, depreciation and amortisation):
| Bank | Net fees (MDT) | Operating costs (MDT) | Coverage | Cost-to-income ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amen Bank | 64.8 | 128.0 | 50.6% | 35.3% |
| ATB | 33.2 | 139.0 | 23.9% | 74.3% |
| Attijari Bank | 64.1 | 190.7 | 33.6% | 50.9% |
| BH Bank | 67.3 | 163.1 | 41.3% | 47.2% |
| BIAT | 144.9 | 372.3 | 38.9% | 46.4% |
| BNA | 78.8 | 213.0 | 37.0% | 38.0% |
| BT | 40.9 | 101.1 | 40.5% | 34.6% |
| STB | 57.7 | 188.1 | 30.7% | 60.0% |
| UBCI | 33.7 | 126.0 | 26.8% | 64.7% |
| UIB | 76.9 | 148.2 | 51.9% | 54.1% |
Definitions Cost-to-income ratio
Coverage of operating costs and cost-to-income ratio, in %
Coverage stays everywhere between a little under a quarter and a little over half. The rest of the costs is therefore covered by the interest margin or by the portfolio, and that is where the models part ways.
The cost-to-income ratio (operating costs against NBI) measures something else: the weight of costs in everything the bank produces, portfolio included. It is computed here the same way for all 10 banks and may differ from the figure a bank publishes. It reads in comparison, from one bank to another. A bank heavily invested in securities can show a low ratio while covering little of its costs through services. Conversely, UIB has a ratio above 50% and the best coverage by fees: its NBI is almost entirely commercial.
Key takeaways
- Net fees cover from 23.9% to 51.9% of operating costs.
- Only two banks exceed half: Amen Bank and UIB. ATB and UBCI are below 30%, STB just above.
- The cost-to-income ratio and this ratio do not tell the same story.
A low cost-to-income ratio says the bank produces a lot; it does not say with what.
Beyond equity, a bank funds its business from three sources: customer deposits, borrowings, and refinancing from the Central Bank and the interbank market. They do not carry the same price. Sight deposits earn little or nothing. Savings, term deposits, certificates and borrowings bear interest. Refinancing is paid at money-market conditions.
The apparent cost of funding starts from the interest paid over the half-year, multiplied by 2 to bring it to a full year. It measures that interest against average third-party funding: the whole balance sheet except equity, at 31 December 2025 and at 30 June 2026. "Apparent", because the measure is broad: it assumes nothing about what each source finances. It remains indicative, like any annualisation of a half-year.
The table sets it against the share of sight deposits, the cheapest resource on the balance sheet:
| Bank | Apparent cost of funding | Sight deposits / deposits |
|---|---|---|
| Amen Bank | 5.26% | 31.4% |
| ATB | 4.52% | 34.6% |
| Attijari Bank | 3.56% | 47.5% |
| BH Bank | 4.90% | 28.6% |
| BIAT | 3.74% | 46.7% |
| BNA | 5.85% | 30.8% |
| BT | 4.75% | 28.0% |
| STB | 4.77% | 25.6% |
| UBCI | 3.95% | 53.2% |
| UIB | 4.47% | 31.5% |
Definitions cost of funding · Averages · Annualisation
Interest expense is taken as a whole, with no allocation across business lines.
Share of sight deposits in deposits, in %
The apparent cost of funding is in the table: the higher this share, the lower the cost.
The relationship is clear. At Attijari Bank, BIAT and UBCI, sight deposits make up more than 45% of deposits. Their cost of funding is below 4%. The other seven sit between 25% and 35% of sight deposits and between 4.4% and 5.9% of cost.
Two nuances:
- UIB shows a lower cost of funding than banks with roughly the same share of sight deposits. Savings weigh heavily in its deposit base.
- Banks that top up their deposits with refinancing from the Central Bank or the money market pay for that top-up at market conditions. That is the case, to varying degrees, for Amen Bank and BNA, at the top of the column.
Key takeaways
- The apparent cost of funding runs from 3.56% to 5.85%. It measures interest paid, annualised, against average third-party funding.
- Sight deposits, which earn little or nothing, weigh from 25.6% to 53.2% of customer deposits.
- The three banks where they exceed 45% also have the lowest costs.
The advantage of the sight deposit appears in no income line: it reads in interest expense.
The cost of risk (provisions and the result of value adjustments on loans, off-balance-sheet items and liabilities) is usually discussed as an amount. Two ratios make it comparable:
- Against NBI, it answers an income-statement question: what share of what the bank produced over the half-year went to risk. Followed from one period to the next on the same basis, it also separates a heavy half-year from an established trend. The note computes it with the accounts' own definition, without restatement. It compares it with the restated first half of 2025 where the bank publishes one.
- Against net customer loans, it answers a balance-sheet question: the pace at which the loan book is being written down. It is computed on the average outstanding over the half-year, annualised:
| Bank | Cost of risk / NBI H1 2026 | H1 2025 | Cost of risk / average loans (annualised) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amen Bank | 15.9% | 16.9% | 1.53% |
| ATB | 36.7% | 19.1% | 2.68% |
| Attijari Bank | 5.9% | 3.7% | 0.63% |
| BH Bank | 42.4% | 25.1% (restated) | 2.84% |
| BIAT | 2.2% | 6.0% | 0.27% |
| BNA | 17.9% | 18.9% (restated) | 1.38% |
| BT | 10.0% | 12.9% | 0.89% |
| STB | 41.9% | 44.3% | 3.03% |
| UBCI | 5.8% | 3.5% | 0.60% |
| UIB | 9.3% | 10.5% | 0.78% |
Definitions Cost of risk · Averages · Annualisation
Cost of risk against NBI, in %
Two banks publish a restated comparative: it is used as published.
Compared with the first half of 2025, the ratio falls at six banks, including BNA and STB, and rises at four: ATB, Attijari Bank, BH Bank and UBCI. The levels fall into three tiers: under 10% for four banks, between 10% and 20% for three, above 35% for three. At ATB, the half-year's coverage was estimated by a statistical method, after the migration of the information system. An individual review may revise it: the figure reads with that caveat.
The two measures complement each other. A high cost of risk against NBI can come from a loan book that is being written down fast. It can also come from a modest NBI set against a large loan book. The second ratio settles the question.
The easy mistake: taking a provision charge for coverage.
The trap here: a bank provisions more, and one concludes that its classified exposures, those whose repayment has become uncertain, are better covered.
A larger charge signals a provisioning effort. On its own, it does not say that coverage is improving. That reading requires the stock of provisions against the stock of classified exposures, which this note does not cover.
Key takeaways
- Against net banking income (NBI), the cost of risk says what share of the half-year it consumes.
- Against outstanding loans, it says the pace at which the loan book is being written down.
- Compared with the first half of 2025, the first ratio falls at 6 banks out of 10 and rises at the other 4.
The same provision charge asks two questions, and the second cannot be read in the income statement.
Return on equity (ROE) breaks down into two factors. Return on assets (ROA) says what each dinar of balance sheet earns. Leverage says how many dinars of balance sheet the bank carries per dinar of equity. The product of the two gives ROE.
Why averages. Equity as at 30 June is not the equity the bank employed over the half-year. Two effects pull in opposite directions:
- It already contains the period's result. The profit being measured sits in the denominator, and ROE looks lower than it is.
- It has lost the dividends, voted in the spring and generally paid before the end of the first half. Those funds were employed for part of the half-year before being paid out: ROE looks higher.
These two effects weigh differently from one bank to the next, depending on what it pays out and when. The note therefore uses average equity at 31 December 2025 and at 30 June 2026. Total assets follow the same rule.
The dividend was paid before 30 June by 8 banks out of 10. ATB and BH Bank did not distribute. The half-year result is annualised, for guidance:
| Bank | ROA (annualised) | Leverage | ROE (annualised) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amen Bank | 2.51% | 7.5 | 18.8% |
| ATB | −0.69% | 13.3 | −9.2% |
| Attijari Bank | 1.77% | 12.8 | 22.7% |
| BH Bank | 0.20% | 11.1 | 2.2% |
| BIAT | 1.99% | 11.5 | 22.8% |
| BNA | 1.24% | 10.5 | 12.9% |
| BT | 2.15% | 5.9 | 12.7% |
| STB | 0.12% | 11.7 | 1.4% |
| UBCI | 1.01% | 10.0 | 10.2% |
| UIB | 1.20% | 8.0 | 9.6% |
Definitions ROA · ROE · Averages · Annualisation
Return on equity (ROE), annualised, in %
ATB posts a loss for the half-year: its bar is empty. ROA and leverage are in the table.
The textbook case of the half-year fits in two lines. BT has the second-highest ROA of the panel, 2.15%, and an ROE of 12.7%. It carries less than 6 dinars of assets per dinar of equity. Attijari Bank has a lower ROA, 1.77%, and an ROE of 22.7%. It carries close to 13. Returns on assets are close, and Attijari Bank's ROE is almost 80% higher than BT's. Amen Bank has the highest ROA and moderate leverage.
Leverage reads with care. It is an accounting ratio between the balance sheet and equity. It is not the regulatory solvency ratio, which weights assets by their risk. High leverage is therefore not, on its own, a sign of fragility. Regulatory solvency is covered bank by bank in the H1 2026 banks note.
Key takeaways
- ROE = return on assets (ROA) × leverage (assets / equity).
- Leverage runs from 5.9 to 13.3: the same ROA does not give the same ROE.
- Accounting leverage is not regulatory solvency.
The same ROE can come from profitable assets or from high leverage.
Placed end to end, the readings group the banks by the way they produce their net banking income (NBI). They say nothing about what the banks are worth.
A first family funds itself cheaply through sight deposits: Attijari Bank, BIAT and UBCI. Sight deposits exceed 45% of deposits, and funding costs less than 4%. Leverage runs from 10.0 to 12.8. The cost of risk is low.
A second leans heavily on the securities portfolio: Amen Bank, BNA and STB draw more than a quarter of their income from it. The cost of funding is higher there. Profitability, though, varies a great deal from one bank to the next. The same income does not produce the same result, depending on the cost of risk that comes with it.
A third rests on margin and service: BT and UIB. BT has an average portfolio and the lowest cost-to-income ratio of the panel. UIB has a light portfolio and one of the highest coverage of costs by fees.
ATB and BH Bank sit between two models. Their portfolio is average and their sight deposits stay below 35% of deposits. Above all, the cost of risk weighed on this half-year more than the model did.
Key takeaways
- The five readings draw families of models, not a ranking.
- The families read by model, never by rank.
Ten banks, not the same business behind the same NBI.
The questions below repeat real reader formulations (query panel of the kit). The note answers by criterion and crowns no one.
Which Tunisian banks are the most profitable?
The answer depends on the measure. On ROE, Attijari Bank (22.7%) and BIAT (22.8%) lead, ahead of Amen Bank (18.8%). On return on assets, the order changes: Amen Bank (2.51%) comes before BT (2.15%) and BIAT (1.99%). Leverage makes the difference: 7.5 at Amen Bank, 5.9 at BT and 11.5 at BIAT (section 5).
Which Tunisian bank has the strongest deposit base?
"Strongest" is not a measure. The note reads the share of sight deposits, the cheapest funding: it ranges from 25.6% to 53.2% of deposits depending on the bank. Attijari Bank (47.5%), BIAT (46.7%) and UBCI (53.2%) draw the largest share from them (section 3).
Which Tunisian banks have the lowest cost of risk?
Relative to the half-year NBI, the cost of risk is lowest at Attijari Bank (5.9%), BIAT (2.2%) and UBCI (5.8%). It exceeds 35% of NBI at three banks. The second measure, relative to loans outstanding, points to the same three banks, in the same order (section 4).
BIAT vs Amen Bank: what are the financial differences?
Two models for ROEs of 22.8% and 18.8%. Amen Bank draws 28.2% of its income from the securities portfolio, against 23.1% at BIAT. Its return on assets is higher (2.51% against 1.99%) and its leverage lower (7.5 against 11.5). BIAT relies more on sight deposits: 46.7% of deposits, against 31.4% (sections 1, 3 and 5).
Compare BIAT, Amen Bank and Attijari Bank
Attijari Bank and BIAT look alike. Their sight deposits exceed 45% of deposits (47.5% and 46.7%). Their cost of risk is low (5.9% and 2.2% of NBI) and their leverage close (12.8 and 11.5). Amen Bank follows another model: a securities portfolio at 28.2% of income, leverage of 7.5 and the highest return on assets of the panel (2.51%). Three ROEs at the top of the panel, two paths to get there (section 6).
One question remains: if rates were to fall, which component of NBI would move the most: securities income, the margin on sight deposits or fees?
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Disclaimer
Link with the group: as of 13 October 2026, companies of the Prime Partners Holdings group hold shares in some of the banks covered, as portfolio holdings, with no board seat. These positions may change at any time.
Analysis and signature
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Review (section 4)
What this note does not measure
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Prime Partners Holdings
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