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The  National Commercial  Bank  (NCB)  and  Riyad  Bank have announced that their board of directors decided today to start preliminary discussions to study the merger of the two banks.

The two banks said in official statements on the "Tadawul" that entering into these discussions does not necessarily mean that the merger will be between the parties.

They pointed out that if the merger is agreed, it will be subject to the conditions and approvals of the concerned regulatory authorities in the Kingdom and the approval of the extraordinary general assembly of both banks.

The two banks said they had been coordinated with the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) regarding the merger requirements before starting these discussions, but formal approvals are still required before the merger is completed.

NCB said the merger is not expected to result in mandatory layoffs, and Riyad Bank confirmed that the merger is not expected to result in mandatory layoffs.

The bank said that any upcoming developments will be announced in due course, and shareholders will be informed of any further developments in this regard.

According to the data available in the figures , if the merger between the two banks will result in the largest bank in Saudi Arabia with assets of up to 685 billion riyals.

The two banks share three major owners:

Public Investment Fund  : It owns 44.29% of the National Commercial Bank and 21.75% of Riyad Bank.

2 -  Public Pension Agency  : It owns 10.26% of the National Commercial Bank and 9.27% ​​of Riyad Bank.

3-  General Organization for Social Insurance  : It owns 10% of National Commercial Bank and 16.72% of Riyad Bank.

The following table shows the most important items of the balance sheet of the two banks by the end of the third quarter 2018:

Budget items by the end of the third quarter 2018 (billion riyals)
	Ahly	Riyadh
the findings	459.08	225.97
Customer Deposits	325.46	159.24
Net loans	268.25	145.76
capital	30.00	30.00
Shareholders' equity	55.50	36.75

SABB  and  First Bank  signed a binding merger agreement on October 3, 2018, under which they agreed to take the necessary steps to implement the merger and form the third largest bank in Saudi Arabia.