Samba Financial Group SJSC, formerly known as The Saudi American Bank, was a multinational banking firm based in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

. The combined institution had 66 branches in the Kingdom.Samba: Our History
/ref> Samba merged with NCB to form

Saudi National Bank Saudi National Bank (SNB; ), also known as SNB AlAhli, formerly known as The National Commercial Bank (NCB), is the largest commercial bank in Saudi Arabia. In April 2021, National Commercial Bank merged with Samba Financial Group under the nam ...

on 1 April 2021.

History

Samba was established on 12 February 1980 with the takeover of

Citibank Citibank, N.A. ("N. A." stands for "National bank (United States), National Association"; stylized as citibank) is the primary U.S. banking subsidiary of Citigroup, a financial services multinational corporation, multinational corporation. Ci ...

branches in

Jeddah Jeddah ( ), alternatively transliterated as Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; , ), is a List of governorates of Saudi Arabia, governorate and the largest city in Mecca Province, Saudi Arabia, and the country's second largest city after Riyadh, located ...

and

Riyadh Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of the Riyadh Governorate. Located on the eastern bank of Wadi Hanifa, the current form of the metropolis largely emerged in th ...

under a Saudi requirement that forced all foreign banks to be at least 60% owned by Saudi nationals.

Citigroup Citigroup Inc. or Citi (Style (visual arts), stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services company based in New York City. The company was formed in 1998 by the merger of Citicorp, t ...

entered a Technical Management Agreement under which it agreed to manage the new bank. The former

Prime Minister of Pakistan The prime minister of Pakistan (, Roman Urdu, romanized: Wazīr ē Aʿẓam , ) is the head of government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosen Cabinet of Pakistan, cabinet, desp ...

Shaukat Aziz Shaukat Aziz (born 6 March 1949) is a Pakistani-born British former banker who served as the 15th prime minister of Pakistan from 28 August 2004 to 15 November 2007. When his term as Prime Minister was over, he immediately left Pakistan and se ...

, was the

Managing Director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of the bank in the 1990s.

opened its

branch in 1955, and its

branch in 1966. Citibank created Samba, in which it took a 40% share, to take over its branches in Saudi Arabia, under a Royal Decree on 12 February 1980. In 1985 Samba opened a branch in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

that it closed after 1994, and at one point maintained a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

and a

Representative office A representative office is an office established by a company or a legal entity to conduct marketing and other non-transactional operations, generally in a foreign country where a branch office or subsidiary is not warranted. Representative offices ...

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

. In the late 1980s, Samba opened a branch in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. In July 1999, Samba merged with United Saudi Bank to form one of the largest banks in the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

. Before the merger,

owned 30 percent of Samba, having sold a 10 percent tranche to two public agencies in 1991. After the merger,

was still the largest shareholder with 23 percent of the shares.

Kingdom Holding Company The Kingdom Holding Company (KHC; ) is a Saudi conglomerate holding company, based in Riyadh. The KHC is a publicly listed company on the Tadāwul (Saudi stock exchange). The KHC consists of a team of experienced investment specialists dire ...

(owned by Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal) also had a large share ownership, deriving from his ownership in United Saudi Bank. In 2003, the bank's name was officially changed to Samba Financial Group, and all references to Saudi American Bank were removed. This name change followed

's decision to pull out of

and sell its then 20% stake. Officially, this was done due to the anticipated relaxation of laws governing foreign banks' operations in the Kingdom. Some speculate that this was due to rising anti-American sentiment in

. Nevertheless,

SABB SABB may refer to: *SABB (Saudi bank) or Saudi British Bank, a subsidiary of HSBC *SABB S.A., an Argentine rolling stock manufacturer. Sabb may refer to: *Sabbatical officer or sabb, in UK students' unions * Sabb., an abbreviation related to the ...

is still an

HSBC HSBC Holdings plc ( zh, t_hk=滙豐; initialism from its founding member The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business li ...

partnership and they have changed their artwork and colors from green and white to the HSBC logo. Samba Financial group was the first in the banking sector to simplify the process of transferring money overseas within hours. This was led by

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

Akhtar Aalam. In 2004,

sold its remaining stake in the company. In March 2007, Samba Financial Group acquired 68% of Crescent Commercial Bank Limited (CCBL) in

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. CCBL, established in 2002, was formerly known as Mashreq Bank Pakistan Limited, which in turn was the result of the merger in 2003 of Crescent Investment Bank Limited and the

branches of Mashreq Bank psc. CCBL is now named Samba Bank Pakistan. It currently operates 37 branches across

; the bank hopes to expand its network of branches in 2018. In June 2008, Samba opened the first integrated branch in

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a federal elective monarchy made up of seven emirates, with Abu Dhabi serving as i ...

. In 2010, Samba opened the first branch in

Doha Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

. In August 2011, Samba made the list of top ten safest banks 2011 in the

ranked at number four. In 2017, Rania Mahmoud Nashar was named

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

. This makes Samba the first listed Saudi commercial bank to have a female CEO. In 2022, Samba merged into the National Commercial Bank, which established the largest bank in the Kingdom.

International operations

Its International Operations consist of a branch each in

, and

, as well as a

that has 40 branches across major cities in

. The company dates back to 1955. After a partial nationalization program by the

Saudi government The politics of Saudi Arabia takes place in the context of a unitary absolute monarchy, along traditional Islamist lines, where the King is both the head of state and government. Decisions are, to a large extent, made on the basis of consult ...

owned a 40% stake in the company in 1980 but sold its remaining interest in 2004.

NCB Samba Deal

Samba and NCB carried out a mega-merger worth 15.3 billion dollars. The

Merger Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...

resulted in the creation of Arabian Gulf's third largest bank after

Qatar National Bank Qatar National Bank (QNB Group) () is a Qatari multinational commercial bank headquartered in Doha, Qatar. It was founded in 1964 and currently has subsidiaries and associates in 31 countries on three continents. The bank's ownership is evenly d ...

and

First Abu Dhabi Bank First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) () is the largest bank in the United Arab Emirates. It was formed following a merger between First Gulf Bank (FGB) and National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD). FAB offers financial solutions, products and services through ...

. The new

(SNB) company was formed in April 2021. The previous Samba name and branding continue to be used outside of

. Within Saudi Arabia, all Samba and NCB branding was switched to the new SNB branding.

References

{{reflist

External links

Samba Official Website
(Dubai)
Samba Official Website
(Pakistan) 1980 establishments in Saudi Arabia 2021 disestablishments in Saudi Arabia Companies listed on Tadawul Banks of Saudi Arabia Companies based in Riyadh Banks established in 1980 Banks disestablished in 2021 Multinational companies headquartered in Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabian companies established in 1980 Saudi Arabian companies disestablished in 2021

History

International operations

NCB Samba Deal

See also

References

External links