Saudi National Bank CEO quits after Credit Suisse crash
Nearly two weeks after an interview with Bloomberg TV in which Saudi National Bank chairman Ammar Al Khudairy, who is also the largest shareholder of Credit Suisse Group AG, ruled out the possibility of increasing his stake in the troubled Swiss bank , the bank's shares immediately plunged, leading to an abrupt takeover by rival UBS. Now the president of the Saudi National Bank has resigned, citing "personal reasons".
After his comments on Credit Suisse helped spark a slump in the lender's shares, Saudi National Bank Chairman Ammar Al Khudairy resigns https://t.co/9aaWunmcFT pic.twitter.com/RpqLCQwpMg
— Bloomberg (@business) March 27, 2023
According to a document filed with the Tadawul stock exchange in Riyadh, Al Khudairy will be replaced by Saeed al-Ghamdi, the bank's current CEO. No further explanations were given for Al Khudairy's departure, and the statement merely mentioned that it was "due to personal reasons".
His departure comes 12 days after he said in an interview with Bloomberg TV that the Saudi National Bank would "absolutely" not be willing to increase his position at Credit Suisse. “The answer is absolutely not, for many reasons other than the simplest one, which is regulatory and statutory,” the president of the Saudi National Bank said on March 15. 15. This was in response to a question whether the bank was open to further injections if there was another additional liquidity demand. Immediately after Al Khudairy's statements, Credit Suisse shares plunged by 30%, delivering the final blow to the bank.
Later, the Swiss National Bank agreed to lend Credit Suisse $54 billion to shore up its finances. The next day, Al Khudairy tried to calm fears, telling CNBC viewers, “It's panic, a little panic. I think it is completely unjustified, both for Credit Suisse and for the whole market”. But when the major shareholder refuses to recapitalize, it's a clear sign that it's over
And at the end of the weekend, Sunday March 19, UBS said it would buy out Credit Suisse. And how much have the Saudis lost because of Al Khudairy's comments? Just think that last year they had a 9.9% stake for 1.49 billion francs, or about one billion dollars in losses. An unfortunate turn of events…
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The article The CEO of the Saudi National Bank leaves after the Credit Suisse crack comes from Scenari Economici .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/il-ceo-della-saudi-national-bank-lascia-dopo-il-crack-credit-suisse/ on Tue, 28 Mar 2023 07:00:27 +0000.