Dubai’s Emirates NBD expands its bank in Saudi Arabia

Emirates NBD has expanded its operations in Saudi Arabia by opening its first branch in Jeddah and announcing plans to open two other branches elsewhere in the kingdom, Dubai’s largest bank said on Monday.

It is the latest foreign bank seeking to expand its presence in Saudi Arabia in anticipation of business stemming from the kingdom’s plans to overhaul it economy.

Citi also said on Monday that it had officially opened its new offices in Kingdom Tower, Riyadh. The bank, which pulled out of Saudi Arabia in 2004, in January won formal approval from Saudi Arabia’s Capital Market Authority to begin investment banking.

Read: Dubai’s Emirates NBD closes in on Turkey’s Denizbank despite Gulf row

Saudi Arabia will become Emirates NBD’s largest branch network outside the United Arab Emirates and Egypt with the opening of the Jeddah branch, a new branch in Khobar and a second branch in Riyadh.

Read: UAE’s First Abu Dhabi Bank gets approval for three Saudi branches

It will offer services across retail, private, business and wholesale banking, as well as corporate finance advisory, project and syndicated finance through its investment banking arm, it said.