JEDDAH: The board of Saudi British Bank, an affiliate of HSBC Holdings, has recommended boosting the bank’s capital by 50 percent to SR15 billion ($4 billion) through an issue of bonus shares, it said.

One bonus share would be issued for each two shares held, increasing the number of the bank’s outstanding shares to 1.5 billion from 1 billion.

The capital increase, designed to aid growth of the bank’s business, would be funded with SR2.5 billion from its retained earnings and SR2.5 billion from its statutory reserve.

The eligibility date for the bonus shares will be decided during an extraordinary general assembly meeting in the first quarter of 2015, the bank said.