National Commercial Bank and Samba Financial Group Merger Approved by Saudi Competition Authority

Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Competition has approved the planned merger between Shariah-compliant lender National Commercial Bank (NCB) and Samba Financial Group (Samba) on the 27th of January 2021, according to local media reports.

In October 2020, NCB entered into a merger agreement with Samba to implement the merger between the two banks in accordance with articles issued by Saudi’s Capital Market Authority. The merger is expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2021, local media reported.

Under the transaction, shareholders of Samba will receive 0.739 new NCB shares in exchange for every Samba share. The merger is anticipated to create one of the largest banking entities in the Middle East with combined assets of SAR 837 billion (USD...