La Saudi National Bank (SNB) communicated that the president Ammar Abdul Wahed Al Khudairi resigned “for personal reasons” and will be replaced by Saeed Mohammed Al-Ghamdiwho until now held the position of managing director.
Meanwhile, we reconfirm that Al Khudairy has been at the center of the collapse of Credit Suisse, as his words triggered the collapse of the Swiss bank’s stock, which was then bailed out by UBS following a week of very strong stock market selling. In an interview with Bloomberg in early March, Al Khudairy answered “absolutely not” when asked if Saudi National Bank would be open to further investment in Credit Suisse if there was another call for cash.
The then SNB chairman said the Saudi bank would not intervene “for many reasons other than the simplest reason, which is regulatory and statutory.”
The comments fueled investor panic, sending Credit Suisse shares tumbling 24% on the day of the interview, although Al Khudairy reiterated the SNB’s previous position that it did not intend to expand its holdings beyond the share of the 9,9% as the largest shareholder of the Swiss bank.
SNB, lost 80% of investment in Credit Suisse
Subsequently, on March 19, the first Swiss bank UBS bought Credit Suisse, in a forced marriage brokered by the Swiss government for 3.2 billion francs dollars.
Saudi National Bank has lost about 80% of its investment in Credit Suisse, more than $1 billion following the takeover, as UBS paid shareholders a steeply discounted price of just CHF0.76 per share under the terms of the bailout agreement.
Saudi Arabia’s largest commercial bank, the SNB is the product of a 2021 merger between the National Commercial Bank and Samba Financial Group.
Saudi Arabia has encouraged the consolidation of its financial entities under the Crown Prince’s Vision 2030 project Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) to diversify the kingdom’s income and economic growth prospects away from the revenues received from hydrocarbons.
SNB, Saeed Mohammed Al Ghamdi appointed new president
The SNB, Credit Suisse’s largest shareholder with 9.9%, prior to the bank’s bailout earlier this month, has appointed a new chairman.
The CEO Saeed Mohammed Al-Ghamdi he will take over as new president from Ammar Al Khudairy, who resigned for personal reasons, the bank said. Deputy Chief Executive Officer Talal Ahmed Al Khereiji will take over as interim Chief Executive Officer, the stock exchange said in a statement.