2 days ago
BRICS+ Series: GCC Banks To Take the Lead in Global Order
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Secretary-General Jassim al-Budaiwi, Kuwaiti deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Jarrah Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Abdullah Ali al-Yahya, Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan, Bahraini Foreign Ministry Undersecretary for Political Affairs Khalid Yousef Al-Jalahma, and UAE Minister of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Khalifa Bin Shaheen Al-Marar pose for a group photo during the GCC foreign minister meeting in Kuwait City on June 2, 2025.
In a world recalibrating its power structures, the heartbeat of a new economic order is not coming from Washington or Brussels, it's coming from Riyadh, Dubai, and Doha. The first quarter earnings of GCC banks, a record-breaking $13.2 billion — are not just figures in an accounting ledger. They are signals. Loud, booming signals that the Global South is not waiting for a seat at the table anymore, it's building a new one.
This isn't about oil. It's about balance sheets, digital transformation, sovereign wealth, and a clear, calculated alignment with BRICS+. While the West is busy navigating inflation, political chaos, and declining global influence, the Gulf states are executing a well-scripted vision of economic dominance rooted in financial strength and geopolitical foresight.
From Petrostate to Power Broker
For decades, the Gulf's wealth was seen as static, pegged to oil markets, buffeted by global price swings, and reliant on Western financial systems to recycle petro-dollars. But that era is closing. Today, GCC economies, led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, are not just managing wealth — they are engineering the future. And their banking sector is the perfect lens through which to witness this transformation.
In the first quarter of 2025, GCC banks posted nearly 10% year-on-year growth in profits. Saudi National Bank, First Abu Dhabi Bank, and others have reduced non-performing loan ratios while increasing lending and digital integration. These aren't just stable banks; they are aggressively modern, risk-conscious, and future-oriented institutions. That's more than can be said for some traditional Western banks still reeling from post-COVID shocks and regional debt crises.
The GCC's rise is not in isolation. It's part of a larger movement — a geopolitical and economic renaissance of the Global South. It's about realignment. It's about BRICS+.
Why BRICS+ Needs the Gulf
In 2023, the expansion of BRICS+ to include Saudi Arabia, Iran and the UAE was more than symbolic. It was strategic. The Gulf brings what BRICS+ desperately needed: liquidity, infrastructure readiness, and a proven ability to act as a bridge between East and West. It also brings credibility in the Muslim world, investment clout across Africa, and growing technological ambitions — from clean energy to AI to fintech.
The inclusion of the Gulf in BRICS+ is a statement that the bloc is no longer a developing world protest club. It's a counter-system. A challenge to the Washington Consensus. A coalition not just of emerging economies, but of confident ones.
And the numbers tell the story. GCC banks, backed by state investment arms and supported by robust sovereign credit ratings, are positioned to underwrite the very future that BRICS+ envisions — one of multipolar development, non-dollar trade mechanisms, and regional infrastructure that connects ports in Mombasa with railway lines in Xinjiang and smart cities in Riyadh.
If BRICS+ is the engine of a new world, the GCC is its oil — and not just in the literal sense.
The West's reluctance to adapt to this shift is glaring. While Washington debates debt ceilings and Brussels argues over migration quotas, Riyadh signs a multi-billion dollar clean hydrogen deal with Beijing and rolls out AI initiatives in partnership with BRICS innovation hubs. The UAE, for its part, is building financial corridors that stretch from Africa to Southeast Asia — quietly and effectively.
This isn't a revolution with flags and slogans. It's happening in quiet boardrooms, via blockchain settlements, in massive infrastructure blueprints — and in the earnings reports of banks that once operated in the shadows of Exxon and Shell, but are now giants in their own right.
By aligning with BRICS+, the Gulf is choosing a future built on regional agency, multipolar engagement, and de-dollarisation. It is rejecting the narrative that economic prosperity must flow through Western financial institutions. It is embracing a new world order — one built on shared interests, not shared histories.
This Is the Future
So yes, GCC banks made $13.2 billion in Q1 2025. But that number is just a surface reflection of something far deeper. The Middle East is no longer a geopolitical chessboard where great powers play. It is becoming a player in its own right — a financier, an innovator, a bridge, and a disruptor.
The rise of the Gulf is the rise of the Global South. And the alignment with BRICS+ is not just a tactical move. It's a philosophical one. It says, we are no longer the periphery. We are the center of something new.
Written by:
*Dr Iqbal Survé
Past chairman of the BRICS Business Council and co-chairman of the BRICS Media Forum and the BRNN
*Chloe Maluleke
Associate at BRICS+ Consulting Group
Russian & Middle Eastern Specialist
**The Views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of Independent Media or IOL.
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