The president of the Saudi National Bank, the largest shareholder of Credit Suisse before the acquisition by UBS, at the beginning of the month, has resigned from his position, the bank announced on Monday, in a statement published on the Riyadh Stock Exchange. .
The statement added that Ammar Abdul Wahed Al Khudairy’s resignation was “for personal reasons” and was accepted by the board of directors of the Saudi National Bank.
The note adds that the bank’s chief executive, Saeed Mohammed Al Ghamdi, will be the new chairman of the board starting Monday, while Talal Ahmed Al Khereiji will serve as chief executive on an interim basis.
Some statements by Ammar Abdul Wahed Al Khudairy triggered the crisis that led to the sale of Credit Suisse to its rival UBS.
A day later, in statements to CNBC, the Arab banker tried to calm investors arguing that his words did nothing more than repeat the same message that the Saudi National Bank has been transmitting since last October and that they were used as excuses to trigger a panic. which, in his opinion, was “totally unjustified”.
The Saudi National Bank, controlled 37% by the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia, had acquired a 9.88% stake in Credit Suisse last fall for 1,400 million Swiss francs (1,415 million euros), as part of the capital increase launched by the Swiss entity and whose value fell substantially after the collapse of the bank’s share price.
Over the weekend, the Swiss financial sector regulator (Finma) admitted that it is considering holding Credit Suisse managers accountable for the management mistakes that led to the bank’s collapse.
The acquisition of Credit Suisse by UBS came after the turmoil experienced by banks in the United States, which led investors to sell securities of institutions considered weak links in the banking system, such as Credit Suisse, which had accumulated problems for two years .
Source: TSF
