Goldman Steps Up #Saudi Wealth Bet to Target Middle East’s Rich - Bloomberg

Goldman Steps Up Saudi Wealth Bet to Target Middle East’s Rich - Bloomberg

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is building out its wealth-management division in Saudi Arabia, as competition intensifies among Wall Street giants to tap into the Middle East’s largest economy.

The New York-based banking titan has launched the first stage of rolling out onshore private banking services in Saudi Arabia to extend its capabilities from its office in Riyadh, where the US lender has already had a presence for more than a decade, according to a statement Tuesday from the bank.

The move follows a milestone Goldman reached last year, when it became the first major international bank to secure a regional headquarters license in Saudi Arabia amid efforts by authorities there to get more overseas companies to set up their Middle Eastern hubs in the kingdom.

Goldman recently transferred wealth management executives Yousef Alhozaimy and Khalid Soufi from Dubai to the Saudi capital as part of the strategic move, and is now “actively hiring” other staff to expand its presence in the Middle East further, the firm said.

“Saudi Arabia has an exceptionally dynamic economy and a highly sophisticated investor base,” said Rob Mullane, Goldman’s co-head of private wealth management for Europe, Middle East and Africa. “We are delighted to expand our commitment” to the country.

Citigroup Inc. and Morgan Stanley followed in Goldman’s footsteps last year to bag their regional headquarters license for Saudi Arabia, while JPMorgan Chase & Co. secured its own this month. The kingdom — whose wealthy elite have traditionally shifted part of their fortunes overseas to banking hotspots such as Switzerland — is seeking to pivot its economy away from oil and make Riyadh a premier finance hub in the Gulf.

Goldman has also moved one of its top private credit executives in its asset management arm, Deb Dutt, from London to the Gulf region as part of its ongoing push into the Middle East, where it opened a new office in Kuwait earlier this month. Lucy da Gama Campos, a senior employee at its unit for family offices, similarly relocated last year from the UK to Dubai, where Goldman recently held an event for about 100 investment firms of the world’s ultra-rich.