RIYADH: National Commercial Bank, Saudi Arabia's largest lender, has chosen HSBC's Saudi Arabian arm and the investment banking unit of Gulf International Bank to advise it on a share sale, it said in a statement on Wednesday.

NCB chairman, Mansour Al-Maiman, said in the statement that the bank was preparing to list its shares on the Saudi stock exchange this year.

The initial public offering of 15 percent of NCB, an event that has been anticipated for a number of years, was announced by the Saudi finance minister in February.