DUBAI, March 20 (Reuters) - Saudi National Bank's growth strategy will be unaffected by the reduced
valuation on its investment in Credit Suisse after the
Swiss bank was taken over by domestic rival UBS on
Sunday.
The Saudi Arabian lender, the kingdom's largest bank by
assets, acquired almost 10% of Credit Suisse for 5.5 billion
riyals ($1.46 billion) last November and is among the largest
shareholders in the troubled Swiss bank.
"Changes in the valuation of SNB’s investment in Credit
Suisse have no impact on SNB’s growth plans and forward looking
2023 guidance," Saudi National Bank said in a bourse filing on
Monday.
Swiss authorities had announced on Sunday that UBS would
acquire its rival for $3.23 billion as part of a wider
state-backed rescue plan.
Saudi National Bank's statement added that the potential
impact to its capital adequacy ratio is about 35 basis points,
with no impact on profitability.
Investment in Credit Suisse formed less than 0.5% of the
Saudi lender's total assets of more than 945 billion riyals as
of last December.
Saudi National Bank's chairman last week said the bank was
not looking at any international acquisitions and was instead
focused on growth in the Saudi market.
($1 = 3.7560 riyals)
(Reporting by Rachna Uppal
Editing by David Goodman)
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