Gulf International Bank (GIB) had a major shake-up of its boardroom yesterday as it trimmed the number of directors from 10 to seven.

The board has historically had one director from each of the GCC states but at the ordinary general meeting yesterday only Saudis were appointed as directors.

This reflects the changing shareholding structure of the bank which is now almost entirely Saudi owned.

When GIB ran into trouble with a major exposure to structured investment vehicles and collateralised debt, the shareholders initially ploughed $1 billion of new capital into the bank and then bought off $4.8 billion of damaged assets from GIB to firm up its balance sheet.

In the past, Saudi Arabia was the largest shareholder, but the other five GCC states each held around 12 per cent of the equity.

After the $1 billion injection of capital, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority's (Sama) holding increased from 27.5 per cent to 37.6 per cent while the Saudi Public Investment Fund (SPIF) saw its stake in the GIB increase from 12 per cent to 16.5 per cent, suggesting that these bodies provided the bulk, if not all of the $1 billion.

But with the massive $4.8 billion damaged asset purchase, Sama's stake increased to 67.54 per cent while SPIF ended up holding 29.652 per cent of the shares.

That left Kuwait and Qatar holding just 0.73pc of the equity each. Bahrain, Oman and the UAE now hold just 0.438pc each.

GIB chairman Jammaz bin Abdullah Al Suhaimi and Saudi Deputy Minister for Economic Affairs at the Ministry of Finance Dr Hamad Al Bazai were the only two board members to survive the shake-up.

"We highly appreciate the trust of the shareholders in the new board, and I am looking forward to working with my fellow directors, who collectively have extensive experience in both the private and public sectors," said Al Suhaimi.

"I am confident that they will prove invaluable in strengthening the bank's franchise and ensuring continued success during these challenging times for international financial institutions."

New directors to the board, who will be in position for three years, include Deputy Minister and SPIF secretary-general Mansoor Al Maiman, Professor of Information Technology at the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals Dr Abdullah Al Abdul-Gader, National Air Services chief executive officer Sulaiman Al Hamdan, Zamil Industrial Investment chief operating officer Abdulla M Al Zamil and Saudi Arabian Mining Company vice-president for industrial affairs Khaled Al Mudaifer. -TradeArabia News Service