Citigroup gets set for Saudi licence
• Bank names executive to build business, sources say
Citigroup has appointed Carmen Haddad to rebuild its Saudi Arabian business more than 10 years after losing a key banking licence there.
Citigroup has appointed Carmen Haddad to rebuild its Saudi Arabian business more than 10 years after losing a key banking licence there, according to people familiar with the matter.
Haddad was leading Citigroup’s strategy and business development for the kingdom, where the New York-based bank did not have a local presence, said the people, asking not to be identified because the appointment had not been made public. She was also set to become the lender’s CEO in Saudi Arabia once it got a banking licence from the market regulator, the sources said.
Citigroup was in advanced discussions with Saudi Arabia’s Capital Market Authority for an investment banking licence to operate in the country, sources said in March.
The firm lost a key banking licence when it sold its stake in Samba Financial Group in 2004. Saudi Arabia is becoming more attractive to foreign lenders as it takes steps to overhaul its economy including plans for what could be the largest initial public offering with the sale of shares in Saudi Arabian Oil.
Haddad would continue in her role as CEO of Citigroup’s Qatar operations until a replacement was found, the sources said. She would also stay in her position as a senior private banker in the Gulf Co-operation Council region, Egypt and the Levant, they said.
FEMALE EXECUTIVES
Haddad is among a small but growing group of women in prominent corporate positions in Saudi Arabia, which remains the only country to prohibit women from driving cars.
In February, Samba Financial Group appointed Rania Mahmoud Nashar as CEO, days after NCB Capital CEO Sarah al-Suhaimi was named the first woman to chair Saudi Arabian stock exchange Tadawul, the region’s largest.
If the Saudi regulator approves Citigroup’s application, it would seal the US bank’s return after it secured lead roles in the kingdom’s recordbreaking $17.5bn bond sale in 2016 and $9bn Islamic bond in April.
Without the licence, banks face restrictions on working on deals that are signed in Saudi Arabia or takeovers in which the target company is based there.
Citigroup set up a companywide task force with senior bankers to target business opportunities in Saudi Arabia, sources said in September.
The lender had started sounding out potential staff in expectation that its licence application would succeed, sources said in March.
The bank failed in attempts to return to Saudi Arabia in 2006 and 2010, despite lobbying by longtime shareholder Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal al-Saud.
HADDAD IS AMONG A SMALL BUT GROWING GROUP OF WOMEN IN PROMINENT CORPORATE POSITIONS