Bloomberg reports that Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has become the first Wall Street bank to receive a license from the Ministry of Investment to set up its regional headquarters in Riyadh.
Saudi Arabia’s Regional Headquarters Program was introduced in 2021 in order to, “to limit “economic leakage” — government spending that can benefit international firms that don’t have a substantial presence in the kingdom. The new rules that were implemented this year require companies to have a regional base in Saudi Arabia with at least 15 employees, including executives overseeing other countries. Otherwise, they risk losing market share to the kingdom’s state entities, such as the Public Investment Fund (PIF).”
The 966 podcast Episode #108 featured Mansour El-Zahab and Zeynep Kösereisoğlu from Frontierview, a leading market intelligence and research company, to discuss Saudi Arabia’s Regional HQ program and dive into some of the legal and practical details ahead of the effective date of the program starting in 2024.
However, according to the Bloomberg article, banks have been more reluctant, though the likes of JPMorgan Chase & Co., Deutsche Bank AG and HSBC Holdings Plc have ramped up hiring.
