Alwaleed silent on Citigroup crisis

Alwaleed, pictured, is the world's 13th-richest person, according to Forbes magazine. (Getty Images)

Citigroup's largest individual shareholder, billionaire Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, will not comment on the crisis rocking the US largest bank until the "picture gets clearer", a spokeswoman said on Monday.

"[The Prince] is not commenting on Citigroup until media speculation goes away and the picture becomes clearer," Kingdom Holding's spokeswoman Heba Fatani told Reuters.

Alwaleed controls 95% of Kingdom Holding, which in turn owns 3.6% of Citigroup's capital, according to the Saudi company's listing prospectus published in July.

Citigroup's problems deepened on Monday as it was unable to assure investors a potential $11 billion write-down for subprime mortgages would not grow.

On Sunday its Chairman and Chief Executive Charles Prince resigned.

CNBC television said Alwaleed wanted to bring back Prince's predecessor, Sanford "Sandy" Weill, on an interim basis. Fatani declined to comment on CNBC's report.

Alwaleed, a nephew of King Abdullah, has made billions of dollars investing in underperforming companies. He said he was confident about Citigroup's future after it announced a 60% profit warning last month.

Prince Alwaleed is the world's 13th-richest person, according to Forbes magazine.

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