Al-Khudairy said in an interview with Bloomberg TV on March 15 that his bank had absolutely no plans to make any further investments in Credit Suisse. He added that this was not possible due to the applicable rules and that Credit Suisse had not asked for help either, but that could not prevent the share price from falling. Credit Suisse shares are down by nearly a quarter.
Unfounded
The president still called the price drop “completely unfounded,” but the stock price remained as low as ever. Finally, on Sunday March 19, the bank was taken over by its biggest Swiss rival UBS, under duress by the Swiss authorities. However, UBS buys Credit Suisse at a significant discount. The Saudi lender, which invested around 1.4 billion euros in Credit Suisse at the end of last year, has seen its nearly 10% stake in the Swiss bank lose value by nearly one billion euros. SNB CEO Saeed Mohammed al-Ghamdi will assume the role of chairman of Ammar al-Khudairy.