Saudi banking boss quits

THE Saudi banking chief whose damaging comments about Credit Suisse proved to be the last straw for the battered lender has resigned.

Ammar Al Khudairy said ‘absolutely not’ when asked if Saudi National Bank (SNB) would increase its stake in the Swiss investment giant amid doubts about its future nearly two weeks ago.

The remarks would prove hugely costly for the Saudi lender as they helped send shares in Credit Suisse – in which it was the biggest shareholder – into a downward spiral from which it would never recover.

Days later it was swallowed up in a cutprice emergency takeover by Swiss rival

UBS in a deal that nearly wiped out SNB’s stake – costing it about £1bn.

The bank said yesterday that Al Khudairy had resigned as chairman for personal reasons. Chief executive Saeed Mohammed Al-Ghamdi will take over.

Credit Suisse came under pressure earlier this month after the demise of America’s Silicon Valley Bank and two other smaller US lenders. With speculation mounting over its future, Al Khudairy said his bank would ‘absolutely not’ put any more money into Credit Suisse.

It was enough to spook investors and knock a third off the Swiss bank’s value, which came back to bite the Saudis.