Saudi National Bank appoints al-Ghamdi as chairman

Saudi National Bank Chief Executive Saeed Mohammed al-Ghamdi has been appointed as the bank’s chairman after the resignation of Abdul Wahed al-Khudairy for personal reasons, it said on Monday.

The bank’s board also appointed Talal Ahmed al-Khereiji as acting CEO, with all changes effective March 27.

The changes come nearly two weeks after al-Khudairy told Reuters the kingdom’s biggest bank by assets would not buy more shares in Credit Suisse on regulatory grounds, which sent the Swiss bank’s shares to record lows.

Saudi National Bank, which acquired almost 9.9 percent of Credit Suisse for 5.5 billion riyals ($1.46 billion) last November, was sitting on a loss of about 80 percent on its investment last week in the wake of a forced takeover of the Swiss bank by its domestic rival UBS for $3.2 billion.

The Saudi lender said on March 20 that the drop in its investment’s value had no impact on its growth plans and forward-looking 2023 guidance.