Citigroup may seek full banking licence in Saudi Arabia

US-based Citigroup is considering getting a full banking license in Saudi Arabia, Reuters reported, citing president and chief executive of the bank’s institutional clients group.

 “We’re looking at whether or not we should expand our activities here into a full banking license,” James Forese said at the Euromoney 2018 Conference in Riyadh.

The bank had received formal approval in January from the Kingdom’s Capital Market Authority to begin investment banking business.

Citigroup exit Saudi Arabia in 2004 after operating for nearly 50 years, when it sold its 20 percent stake in Samba Financial Group.

It returned in 2015, when it won permission from the market regulator to invest directly in the local stock market.

Citi was one of the banks that helped arrange Saudi Arabia’s $11 billion U.S. dollar bond issue last month.