Ammar Al Khudairy, the chair of Saudi National Bank (SNB), has stepped down from his position after making comments which have been blamed for the downfall of Credit Suisse.
On 15 March, the chairman said that SNB could not buy more shares in Credit Suisse on regulatory grounds, further sinking confidence in the bank. Speaking to Bloomberg, he said that SNB would not invest further in the embattled Swiss bank “for many reasons outside the simplest reason, which is regulatory and statutory.”
The bank, the largest in Saudi Arabia, acquired a 9.9 per cent stake in Credit Suisse in November 2022 for $1.46 billion.
Al Khudairy’s comments contributed to a sell-off in Credit Suisse’s shares to record lows, building on a final quarter of 2022 which saw clients withdraw more than $110 billion. Credit Suisse was subsequently the subject of a government-arranged takeover by UBS for $3.2 billion, with SNB taking a loss of more than $1 billion on its stake.
SNB’s stocks have lost more than $26 billion in value since the bank committed to the investment in Credit Suisse.
A shakeup at the bank has seen chief executive officer Saeed Mohammed Al Ghamdi take over as chairman, with Al Khudairy resigning for what has been described as ‘personal reasons.’ Meanwhile, deputy chief executive officer Talal Ahmed Al Khereiji takes over as acting chief executive with both changes effective 27 March.
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