IslamicFinance.de

The proposed merger of Saudi British Bank (SABB) and Alawwal Bank has been delayed but not derailed. The two banks announced in April that they had agreed to start talks, but progress has since faltered because of the complexity of the deal. Progress on the SABB-Alawwal merger has taken longer than expected because the regulatory environment for bank acquisitions in Saudi Arabia is relatively untested. Meanwhile, dozens of princes, high officials and senior businessmen were detained in November in a corruption crackdown. Among those was SABB vice chairman Khalid Bin Abdullah al-Mulhem. Almost all banks in Saudi Arabia were affected by the crackdown when authorities ordered the freezing of more than 2,000 accounts across the sector. A merged Alawwal and SABB would rank as the third-largest bank in Saudi Arabia with assets of $77.6bn, behind National Commercial Bank and Al Rajhi Bank.