Saudi Arabia gets a new bank - and Saudi National Bank is already market leader

Dubai: Saudi Arabia’s newest bank is now open…

Created from the merger of two banking giants, the Saudi National Bank immediately starts off as being the ‘largest’ in the Kingdom. It sure has the numbers.

• Total assets – 896 billion riyals ($239 billion)

• Combined net profit – 15.6 billion riyals ($4.2 billion)

• Shareholders’ equity – 127 billion riyals ($34 billion)

• Combined market share – 30 per cent

“With the legal completion of the merger, Saudi National Bank is in prime position to compete regionally and locally, ultimately creating a positive impact for all of our stakeholders,” said Ammar Alkhudairy, Chairman of Saudi National Bank.

Single listing too

The new bank began trading as a single entity on the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) on April 1. Samba shares have been de-listed and all its assets, liabilities and operations transferred into the Saudi National Bank.

NCB had earlier won regulatory approval to increase its capital from 30 billion riyals to 44.78 billion riyals. Samba shareholders receive 0.739 ordinary shares in Saudi National Bank as consideration for every ordinary Samba Financial Group share held.

Next steps

The integration process is expected to be complete within the next 18 months. "Clients, counterparts, and stakeholders will be advised on how the merger may affect them in a phased manner over the coming months," the statement said.

According to Saeed Al-Ghamdi, Managing Director and Group CEO of Saudi National Bank, "The legacy banks NCB and Samba served the Kingdom over the last 68 years and now, we combine their respective strengths to lead the future of banking that is committed to creating value for the nation and its people."