Saudi National Bank shares jump on bumper dividend and board appointees

DUBAI: Saudi National Bank shares jumped early Sunday after the lender announced a bumper dividend payout and revealed new board appointments.
The stock was up 2.7 percent by 11:20 a.m. in the Kingdom after it said it would pay out more than SR3.58 billion ($953 million) in dividends to shareholders of the recently merged lender.
The payout equates to 8 percent, the bank said in a regulatory filing on Sunday. Details about its distribution date will be announced at a later date, it said.
The bank also disclosed a number of board appointments. Ammar Abdul Wahed Al-Khudairy was named chairman of the board of directors. Yazeed Abdulrahman Al-Humied was named vice chairman while Saeed Mohammed Alghamdi was appointed managing director and CEO.
National Commercial Bank and Samba Financial Group officially combined under the name of Saudi National Bank (SNB) at the start of the month, creating the Kingdom’s biggest bank with some SR837 billion in assets. It became the latest regional bank to combine with a competitor amid a wave of consolidation across the sector.
Non-resident foreign investors must pay 5 percent withholding tax on the dividend payout, the bank said in the statement, in accordance with Saudi commercial law.