Al Rajhi vs Alinma: Comparing Two Islamic Bank Statements
Both are fully Sharia-compliant. Al Rajhi is the legacy giant; Alinma is the digital-first newcomer. Their statements look different — here's how.
Al Rajhi Bank
Saudi Arabia
Al Rajhi Bank is the world's largest Islamic bank by assets and one of Saudi Arabia's most prominent financial institutions. Founded in 1957, it offers Sharia-compliant banking products to millions of customers across the Kingdom and beyond. Its PDF statements are clearly structured with transaction dates, descriptions, and running balances.
Alinma Bank
Saudi Arabia
Alinma Bank is a fully Sharia-compliant Saudi bank established in 2006, known for its modern digital-first approach and innovative banking services. It has grown rapidly to serve millions of customers across the Kingdom. Its statements are clean, digitally generated PDFs with precise transaction data.
Two Islamic banks, two generations apart
Al Rajhi was founded in 1957 and is the world's largest Islamic bank by customer count — 11M+ retail accounts, 590 branches, a customer base that defaults to Islamic finance for cultural and religious reasons. Alinma was founded in 2006 as a digital-first Sharia-compliant bank. Its 5M+ customers skew younger, more government-sector, and more mobile-first.
Both banks structure every product as Murabaha, Tawarruq, Wakala, or Mudaraba. Neither pays or charges conventional interest. The difference is in product mix and statement design — Al Rajhi leans heavily on Murabaha installments; Alinma is well known for Tawarruq cash finance, which appears as a paired offsetting credit and debit on the same day.
How the PDFs differ in practice
Al Rajhi statements have a traditional six-column layout: Date, Arabic description, reference, Debit, Credit, Running Balance — Arabic primary, with English secondary. Alinma statements use a cleaner, modern layout with the same columns but a more visible reference field. Both run in SAR with DD/MM/YYYY dates.
The big practical difference is Tawarruq. Alinma's statement will show a Tawarruq disbursement as a large credit immediately followed by a matching debit (the offsetting commodity sale) — this pair distorts naive income calculations. Al Rajhi statements rarely surface Tawarruq for retail customers; its dominant financing label is 'قسط مرابحة'. Both produce identical Mada POS rows.
What this means for your conversion
If you bank with both, your Al Rajhi CSV will look like a monthly installment ledger — salary in, Murabaha out, Mada purchases, repeat. Your Alinma CSV may include a Tawarruq pair near the start of the financing month, plus 'أرباح الودائع' (profit on Islamic deposits) on savings accounts. Exclude the offsetting Tawarruq pair from any income total — it represents a loan drawdown, not earnings.
Both banks use Sarie for instant domestic transfers with the same label ('حوالة سريعة') and the same reference format. Reconciling transfers between Al Rajhi and Alinma accounts is straightforward when both CSVs are open side by side.
Quick Comparison
| Feature | Al Rajhi Bank | Alinma Bank |
|---|---|---|
| Country | Saudi Arabia | Saudi Arabia |
| Region | MENA | MENA |
| Currencies | SAR | SAR |
| Sharia-Compliant | Yes | Yes |
Statement Features
Al Rajhi Bank
- Structured tabular layout with clear debit/credit columns and running balance
- Transaction descriptions in both Arabic and English on the same statement
- Monthly summary section with opening and closing balance totals
- IBAN and account details printed in the statement header for easy reference
Alinma Bank
- Digital-native PDF format with machine-readable text throughout
- Categorized transaction types such as POS, ATM, SADAD, and transfers
- Daily balance tracking with each transaction showing the updated running balance
- Fully bilingual layout with Arabic on the right and English on the left
Currency Coverage
Both Banks
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is easier to convert?
Alinma's cleaner digital layout is slightly more parse-friendly. Al Rajhi statements are equally extractable but lean Arabic-primary. The main thing to watch on Alinma is the Tawarruq offsetting pair — our export keeps both rows, but you should net them out when calculating income.
Do both banks process salaries the same way?
Yes. Both credit salary via the WPS with the Arabic label 'راتب'. The format and reference style are identical. Government-sector salaries land on the same day pattern at either bank.
Why does Alinma show two opposite entries on the same day?
That is a Tawarruq cash-finance pair: a credit (the financing amount) and an immediate debit (the commodity sale that converts it to cash). The net effect is a single cash drawdown. Al Rajhi does not surface Tawarruq this way for most retail customers.
How do I categorise 'أرباح الودائع' from Alinma?
It is profit on an Islamic investment deposit — equivalent to interest income in conventional accounting, but Sharia-structured. For Zakat purposes it is subject to standard rules; for accounting it maps to non-operating income. Al Rajhi rarely shows this on retail accounts.
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