Dubai – Masaader News
Saudi Arabia’s central bank announced that Credit Suisse had won approval for a banking licence to operate in Saudi Arabia. Saudi central bank sees more interest from regional banks seeking to operate in the kingdom, with the economy expected to grow 2 percent in 2019.
Saudi Arabia Monetary Agency (SAMA) Governor Ahmed al-Kholifey says: “We have a number of licences in the pipeline right now,”, adding that interest mainly came from regional institutions. “We see this as a vote of confidence in our economy and in the banking sector in particular.”, “credit growth had accelerated in the first quarter by more than 3 percent, its fastest pace in more than two years, fuelled by a sharp jump in mortgages and loans to small- and medium-sized enterprises.”.
The governor also said he saw no need to change interest rates now. The Saudi riyal is pegged to the U.S. dollar and the country’s central bank follows the U.S. Federal Reserve on interest rate moves.