DUBAI, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Saudi National Bank (SNB), the country's biggest lender, on Sunday posted a nearly 20% rise in third-quarter profit from higher fees.

SNB reported a net profit of 3.8 billion riyals ($1.0 billion) for the quarter that ended on Sept. 30, up from 3.2 billion riyals in the same period a year earlier.

The result was better than the 3.6 billion riyals average analysts' forecast on Refinitiv Eikon data.

The Saudi bank said total operating income increased by 38.4% mainly due to higher net special commission income, foreign exchange income and higher fees from banking services

.($1 = 3.7507 riyals) (Reporting by Hadeel Al Sayegh; Editing by William Mallard)