Saudi National Bank (SNB) issued an announcement regarding the latest developments related to its investment in the Credit Suisse Group, clarifying certain points concerning the 2022 financial statements and the previously announced financial expectations for 2023. The bank said that it will invest up to CHF1.5 billion (SAR 5.7 billion) in the group to hold a stake of up to 9.9% through a private placement of non-pre-emptive shares by Credit Suisse. As at December 2022, SNB's investment in Credit Suisse constituted less than 0.5% of its total assets, and 1.7% of its investments portfolio, the bank said in the statement to Tadawul. From a regulatory capital perspective, the impact on SNB's capital adequacy ratio (CAR) from the mark-to-market decline in Credit Suisse was 15 basis points (bps) by December 2022, with zero impact on profitability. In light of the recent market announcement, the potential impact to SNB's CAR is 35 bps, with no impact on profitability, the statement said. Changes in the valuation of SNB's investment in Credit Suisse have no impact on SNB's growth plans and forward looking 2023 guidance. SNB's total assets exceed SAR945 billion, and it remains comfortably above all prudential thresholds, with healthy capitalization and liquidity, the bank said, adding that it remains focused on its core strategy of growth in Saudi Arabia, which is among the fastest growing countries within the G20. In October 2022, SNB said it was committed to participating in the capital raise announced by Credit Suisse. The bank added that it will invest up to CHF1.5 billion (SAR 5.7 billion) in the group to hold a stake of up to 9.9% through a private placement of non-pre-emptive shares by Credit Suisse. On March 19, UBS Group stated that it submitted a bid to buy Credit Suisse at 0.76 franc a share, totaling 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.2 billion).
