The presence of 12 locally licensed commercial banks and the more recent arrival of 10 regional and global institutions, makes for a competitive banking sector in Saudi Arabia. Visibility is important when it comes to tapping into the Kingdom’s growing bankable population, and technology is playing a central role in the battle for market share...
How can the banking sector maintain growth in the current fiscally restrained environment?
It is often the case with major regulatory changes in capital markets that results precede implementation, and indeed, the effects of opening the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) to qualified foreign investors (QFIs) were seen in the months leading to formal implementation of the new mechanism. The arrival of international asset managers like...
One of the more interesting developments in Saudi Arabia’s financial sector in 2015-16 is the attention being paid by the regulator to the Kingdom’s nascent mortgage industry. As with many economies in the region, mortgages have traditionally played only a small part in the financial workings of the housing market, due largely to the precepts...
What is the liquidity outlook for banks in Saudi Arabia, particularly in view of today’s challenging economic environment?
When the price of crude oil began its decline in mid-2014, banking regulators across the GCC examined the liquidity in their respective banking sectors. The centrality of hydrocarbons activity in regional economies means that large alterations to spot prices and futures have the potential to significantly affect the liquidity, and therefore...
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