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Deutsche Bank is the latest international bank to secure a license to set up regional headquarters (RHQ) in Saudi Arabia as part of a Middle East expansion drive.
The RHQ will be based in Riyadh and will serve as a central platform for Deutsche Bank’s regional management, decision-making and corporate functions across, the bank said in a statement.
The bank is also targeting a greater push in the kingdom as it eyes further access across corporate banking, investment banking, and wealth management clients.
Deutsche Bank has been operating in Saudi for 20 years, with the RHQ marking its third legal entity in the kingdom.
Jamal Al Kishi, Deutsche Bank’s CEO for MEA said the RHQ will also allow to connect Saudi and regional clients to opportunities in Europe, Asia, the Americas and Africa “while pursuing the attraction of foreign direct investments into Saudi Arabia and other regional markets.”
Several financial institutions including Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, HSBC and BNY have secured licenses to set up RHQs in Saudi, primarily driven by a government mandate requiring multinationals to base regional operations in the kingdom to access state contracts.
(Writing by Bindu Rai, editing by Brinda Darasha)
