Riyadh - Mubasher: The Saudi National Commercial Bank (NCB) is exploring a deal to acquire Samba Financial Group for $13 billion (SAR 48.75 billion), Bloomberg reported on Thursday citing unnamed sources.

The two banks are still in talks about a takeover, but merger plans could be made public within the next few days, the agency said.

Earlier today, the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) suspended trading the shares of the two companies for one trading session pending a material disclosure.

Trading the shares of NCB and Samba will resume next Sunday, 28 June.