Saudi National Bank chairman quits after his comments sparked Credit Suisse turmoil — and $1 billion in losses for his company
FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images)
- The chairman of Saudi National Bank has quit days after his comments sparked chaos in Credit Suisse's stock.
- Ammar Al Khudairy said he is leaving "due to personal reasons" and will be replaced by the bank's CEO.
- Al Khudairy took the spotlight after he ruled out investing any more in the troubled Swiss bank.
The Saudi banker whose comments helped hasten the downfall of Credit Suisse just called it quits.
Ammar Al Khudairy, the chairman of Saudi National Bank, said he is leaving "due to personal reasons" and will be replaced by CEO Saeed Mohammed Al Ghamdi, per Bloomberg.
Saudi National Bank became the largest shareholder in Credit Suisse after it replaced Harris Associates earlier in March. As the Swiss bank's troubles grew of late however, Al Khudairy said the Saudi lender wouldn't provide any more financial support to it.
"The answer is absolutely not, for many reasons outside the simplest reason, which is regulatory and statutory," Saudi National Bank Chairman Ammar Al Khudairy said in a mid-March Bloomberg interview, responding to whether the Gulf lender would dole out more money to Credit Suisse.
"If we go above 10%, all new rules kick in whether it be by our regulator or the Swiss regulator or the European regulator," he said. "We're not inclined to get into a new regulatory regime. I can cite five or six other reasons, but one reason is there is a glass ceiling and we're not going to entertain going beyond it," he added.
His comments instantly sparked panic among investors, sending Credit Suisse's stock plunging 16.33% in US-listed shares, and 15.71% on Switzerland's stock exchange.
Just days later, Credit Suisse was ultimately acquired by UBS last week in a $3.25 billion deal. The deal is significantly less than the bank's market value of $9.5 billion. Credit Suisse pushed back on the initial offers on Sunday, saying they were too low and would hurt shareholders, sources told Bloomberg.
Saudi National Bank took a blow from the merger. The bank was hit with a loss of over $1 billion thanks to the rescue deal, after it bought a 9.9% stake in Credit Suisse last November, per CNBC.