Citigroup Saudi Arabia holds its inaugural board meeting

Mike Corbat, Citi CEO, posing with the SAGIA Investment Licence, flanked by Atiq Rehman and Carmen Haddad.

Citigroup Saudi Arabia recently held its inaugural board meeting in Riyadh, ushering in a new era for Citi in the Kingdom, and setting the stage for the global bank to deploy its suite of corporate products on the ground to help support Saudi Arabia’s economic transformation.
In April 2017, the Saudi Arabian Capital Market Authority (CMA) granted Citi a license to provide a range of investment banking, debt and equity capital markets, markets, and securities research capabilities to its local and international institutional clients. This was followed by the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority’s investment license in May 2017, and most recently by CMA’s commencement letter.
“Saudi Arabia is a regional economic leader and a strategically important market for Citi,” said Mike Corbat, Citi’s CEO. Corbat actively participated in the Saudi-US CEO Forum 2017 held in Riyadh during May 2017, and led key discussions at the Privatization & Reform Roundtable, one of the forum’s four concurrent roundtables, which had participation by US and Saudi CEOs. “We are excited by the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 to create a more diverse and sustainable economy, and we look forward to putting Citi’s global banking capabilities to work in service of this economic transformation.”
The board is comprised of Citi senior executives and independent directors, and will be responsible for overseeing business strategy and governance for Citigroup Saudi Arabia. “Today’s board meeting is a culmination of efforts to re-establish an onshore operation serving our client base,” said Carmen Haddad, Citi country officer — Saudi Arabia and vice chairperson — Citigroup Saudi Arabia. “We are grateful to our regulators and partners for their support, and we look forward to being part of the transformational journey under Vision 2030.”
Citi has been present in the Arab world since 1955 and offers full-scale corporate and investment banking services. Citi’s institutional capabilities in the region include treasury and trade solutions, corporate and investment banking, markets and securities services and capital markets origination.