Saudi National Bank chairman Ammar Al Khudairy resigns for 'personal reasons'

The kingdom's largest lender appoints Saeed Al Ghamdi as replacement

Tadawul-listed Saudi National Bank has appointed Talal Al Khereiji as acting chief executive. Reuters

Saudi National Bank accepted the resignation of Ammar Al Khudairy as chairman of its board of directors due to “personal reasons” after obtaining a non-objection letter from the kingdom's banking regulator.

Saeed Al Ghamdi was appointed as the lender's new chairman following his resignation as the bank's managing director and group chief executive, SNB said in a filing to the Tadawul stock exchange on Monday.

Talal Al Khereiji, the bank's deputy chief executive, will now serve as the bank's new acting chief executive, it said.

The management shuffle comes about two weeks after Mr Al Khudairy told Bloomberg TV that SNB, the kingdom's largest lender by assets and a shareholder in troubled Credit Suisse, would "absolutely not" be open to further investments in the Swiss bank if there was another call to raise capital due to regulatory reasons.

The Swiss bank's shares dropped to record lows and its credit spreads surged subsequently.

A few days later, UBS agreed to buy Credit Suisse in an all-share deal for $3.2 billion as part of a state-backed rescue deal.

SNB had acquired a 9.88 per cent stake in Credit Suisse in October 2022 for 5.5 billion Saudi riyals ($1.46 billion) as a financial investment allocation within the Saudi bank's investments portfolio.

The Saudi lender said on March 20 that its growth plans and profitability are unaffected by the lower valuation of its investment in Credit Suisse following the Swiss bank's takeover by UBS.

Its investment in Credit Suisse accounts for less than 0.5 per cent of the Saudi Arabian bank's total assets and 1.7 per cent of its investments portfolio as of December 2022. SNB's total assets exceed 945 billion riyals.

The lender said the impact on its capital adequacy ratio from the mark-to-market decline in Credit Suisse was 15 basis points as of December 2022, with “nil impact on profitability”.

Mr Al Khudairy has more than 30 years of experience, previously holding roles in various Saudi financial institutions including Riyad Bank, United Saudi Bank and Banque Saudi Fransi, according to the SNB website.

He previously served as the chairman of Goldman Sachs Saudi Arabia, Morgan Stanley Saudi Arabia and Allianz Saudi Arabia.

He also founded Riyadh-based Amwal AlKhaleej and Dubai-based Amwal Capital Partners.

Mr Al Ghamdi, who was appointed as SNB's chief executive and managing director in April 2021, earlier served as the chief executive and chairman of Saudi Arabian lender National Commercial Bank.

He also worked with Al Rajhi Bank and the Ministry of Defence and Aviation.

SNB's acting chief executive, Mr Al Khereiji, was also appointed as the lender's deputy chief executive in April 2021 after serving as NCB's acting chief executive.

He also previously worked at the Saudi Central Bank.