Saudi Arabia: National Commercial Bank (NCB) and Samba Financial Group (Samba) are currently working to obtain the relevant regulatory approvals to complete the merger, the banks said in separate bourse filings today, Dec. 24.

The banks are seeking approvals from the Saudi Central Bank, Capital Market Authority (CMA), General Authority for Competition, Ministry of Commerce and Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul).

In addition, the committee responsible for preparing the integration plan approved the merger of NCB Capital Company and Samba Capital. The structure of the merger, timing and other details will be determined at a later stage.

However, the banks noted that the committee’s decision will not necessarily result in the merger of NCB Capital Company and Samba Capital and will remain subject to the completion of the bank merger and obtaining the relevant regulatory approvals, in addition to other steps and procedures.

Any further developments will be announced in due course, the banks said.

In October, NCB and Samba anticipate to finalize the planned merger in the second quarter of 2021, based on the expected timeline of the process.