1. Definition
Return on assets sets a bank's net profit against its total balance sheet. It is usually written ROA.
It says what each dinar the bank has lent, invested or tied up earns.
It does not depend on how that balance sheet is funded. That is what makes it useful to compare banks with very different equity.
2. The calculation
ROA sets net profit for the period against average total assets.
Over a half-year, profit is multiplied by 2 to give an annual order of magnitude, as an indication. Average assets are the average of the opening and closing figures of the half-year.
Example, the bank with the highest ROA: Amen Bank, in the first half of 2026, with net profit of 161.9 million dinars, or 2.51% of its average assets, a year.
3. Why it matters
It measures the business itself: what the assets earn once funding, costs, cost of risk and tax are paid.
In a bank, gaps are played out in tenths of a point. On a balance sheet of several billion dinars, a tenth of a point means millions in profit.
It separates the return earned from the business from the return earned from leverage. Two banks with the same ROE can have very different ROAs.
4. What it does not say
It does not say the return to shareholders. ROE says that, after leverage.
It does not say where profit comes from: interest margin, fees, the securities portfolio or a low cost of risk. The briefs on those lines say it.
It leaves out off-balance-sheet items. Commitments given, such as guarantees and documentary credits, earn fees without adding to assets.
5. Where to read it in Tunisian financial statements
Banks' financial statements follow Tunisian accounting standards NCT 21 to 25. Two lines are enough:
- net profit for the period, on the last line of the income statement;
- total assets, on the balance sheet, at the opening and at the close of the half-year.
6. Three reading traps
First trap: a low ROA is not always a bad sign. A bank holding many government securities or risk-free placements has less profitable assets, but also less risky ones.
Second trap: total assets move with end-of-period treasury operations. Assets inflated at closing lower ROA without changing anything in the business; averaging opening and closing figures softens the effect.
Third trap: a half-year is not a year. Multiplying by 2 assumes a second half like the first.
7. Ranking of the 10 listed banks by ROA, first half of 2026
Banks are ranked from the highest value to the lowest, amounts in millions of dinars:
| Rank | Bank | Net profit (TND m) | Average assets (TND m) | ROA, annualised |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Amen Bank | 161.9 | 12 880.3 | 2.51% |
| 2 | BT | 95.6 | 8 907.2 | 2.15% |
| 3 | BIAT | 271.4 | 27 323.0 | 1.99% |
| 4 | Attijari Bank | 123.1 | 13 888.4 | 1.77% |
| 5 | BNA | 156.3 | 25 257.2 | 1.24% |
| 6 | UIB | 52.3 | 8 726.6 | 1.20% |
| 7 | UBCI | 30.0 | 5 931.2 | 1.01% |
| 8 | BH Bank | 15.2 | 15 303.3 | 0.20% |
| 9 | STB | 9.1 | 15 630.3 | 0.12% |
| 10 | ATB | −27.6 | 8 001.8 | −0.69% |
Out of scope: BTE (preferred dividend shares) and Wifak International Bank (an Islamic bank).
ROA ranges from −0.69% to 2.51% depending on the bank. Across the 10 banks taken together, it stands at 1.25%.
Key points
- ROA = annualised net profit / average assets.
- It measures what the balance sheet earns, whatever its funding.
- ROA × leverage = ROE: ROA says where the shareholders' return comes from.
Read also: bank ROE, bank leverage, section 5 of the Readings note, the banks note, the series method.
Sources: interim individual financial statements at 30 June 2026 published with the Conseil du marché financier (CMF), notes included.