---
alias:
- National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia
- NCB
category: Private Organization
created: 2026-09-23
location: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
relations:
- fn: 2
  reverse: true
  role: with his family
  type: owned
  with: '[[Khalid bin Mahfouz]]'
- end: 1990-09
  fn: 3
  role: held over 500 million dollars of BCCI lending off BCCI's books
  type: partner_of
  with: '[[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]]'
summary: Jeddah bank controlled by Khalid bin Mahfouz, with which BCCI concealed more
  than 500 million dollars of lending to its major customers, a practice auditors
  found continuing in 1990.
tags:
- Organization
- Bank
- BCCI
- SaudiArabia
- KhalidBinMahfouz
updated: 2026-09-23
---

The National Commercial Bank of [Saudi Arabia](/places/saudi-arabia/), based in Jeddah, was controlled by [Khalid bin Mahfouz](/people/khalid-bin-mahfouz/), whom the [Kerry-Brown Senate Report](/events/bcci-kerry-brown-senate-report/) called "the most powerful banker in the Middle East." The *[Houston Chronicle](/organizations/houston-chronicle/)* reported in 1992 that "Mahfouz and his family own the National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia."[^1][^2]

### The 1986 Share Purchases

According to the Senate report, the "forced sale" that the [Bank of Credit and Commerce International](/organizations/bank-of-credit-and-commerce-international/) (BCCI) later contemplated for [First American](/organizations/first-american-bank/) was "first considered, and attempted, by BCCI, in 1986 in connection with the purchases of BCCI and CCAH stock by the Khalid bin Mahfouz, head of the National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia." Bin Mahfouz had bought shares of BCCI and of [Credit and Commerce American Holdings](/organizations/credit-and-commerce-american-holdings/) (CCAH), the secret holding company of First American, "under a complex agreement that would permit him to purchase both banks, or to hold his interests temporarily with BCCI guaranteeing to buy them back at no risk to bin Mahfouz." The report continued: "After auditors for National Commercial Bank raised questions about bin Mahfouz's actions regarding BCCI, the transactions were fully unwound by 1989, leaving the First American problem for BCCI unsolved." In 1989 BCCI asked [Clark Clifford](/people/clark-clifford/) to retain an investment banker to find buyers for First American, and Goldman Sachs was engaged in July of that year.[^1]

### Parking

By 1990 the government of [Abu Dhabi](/places/abu-dhabi/) had become BCCI's controlling shareholder. "In September, 1990," the Senate report stated, "[Price Waterhouse](/organizations/price-waterhouse/) learned that BCCI had concealed further lending of over $500 million to its major customs by 'parking' that lending with a Middle Eastern bank, namely, the National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia controlled by Khalid bin Mahfouz." The auditors also found that since the removal of BCCI's chief executive, [Swaleh Naqvi](/people/swaleh-naqvi/), the practice had continued "with the knowledge and approval of the Board representative of the controlling shareholders," the government of Abu Dhabi.[^3] Naqvi had been living under house arrest in Abu Dhabi since March or April 1990, where he kept some 6,000 files whose existence had not been disclosed to the auditors.[^4]

[^1]: Kerry, Senator John, and Senator Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, ch. 7, "BCCI in the United States: Later Acquisitions." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/07later.htm
[^2]: Urban, Jerry. "Bush Said Friend's Arbusto Investment Was His Own, Not Saudi Money." *Houston Chronicle,* June 4, 1992. Reproduced at https://911timeline.s3.amazonaws.com/1990s/houstonchronicle060492.html
[^3]: Kerry and Brown, *The BCCI Affair,* ch. 10, "BCCI and Its Accountants." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/10accounta.htm
[^4]: Kerry and Brown, *The BCCI Affair,* ch. 14, "Abu Dhabi: BCCI's Founding and Majority Stockholders." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/14abudhabi.htm