Saudi wealth lures Barclays
BARCLAYS is planning to push into the private banking arena in Saudi Arabia to take advantage of the concentration of high net worth individuals in the region’s largest economy.
Soha Nashaat, chief executive of Barclays private banking in the Middle East and North Africa, said Saudi Arabia was “massive in terms of percentage of GDP of the Middle East and massive in terms of number of wealthy individuals”.
Barclays was only granted a Saudi banking licence last month and sources close to the bank said the move was in its early stages.