BNY Mellon said to apply for Saudi asset service license

Bank of New York Mellon Corp is planning to apply to Saudi Arabia's Capital Market Authority (CMA) for setting up an asset servicing office in Q2 2018, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing unnamed sources with knowledge of the matter.

“BNY Mellon has been exploring opportunities and the possibility of establishing a presence in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for some time.  These plans are still in development stage. Accordingly, we are not in a position to discuss our future plans at this time,” the bank said in a statement to Reuters. 

The bank aims to provide depositary and trustee services to large Saudi entities with overseas business such as state-run Saudi Aramco and the Public Investment Fund (PIF), the sources said.

The New York-based bank is managing overseas funds held by Saudi government-linked entities from outside the Kingdom.

The new office will initially have around 5 staff, they added.

BNY Mellon has operations in four countries in the region, namely the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Egypt and Turkey.

It manages funds of large institutional investors and provides depositary and trustee services to debt and equity issuers in international capital markets, as well as payment and trade services to local commercial banks.