Stock market crash obscures Saudi boom

The authorities of Saudi Arabia have used the stock market to redistribute wealth, but in doing so they helped inflate a bubble. The inevitable crash has aroused some discontent. Rather then rushing to bail the market out, policymakers should use the sell-off as a spur to force out the manipulators and build a sounder infrastructure by forging ahead with privatization, licensing new investment banks and brokers and fostering institutional asset management. The pain of the sell-off will eventually pass, because Saudi Arabia is booming.

Peter Lee reports.

Opening the doors to the kingdom

Sama sees no problems for the banks

RIYADH IS A boom town. Wandering its banking halls, corporate headquarters and ministries this April was to jostle with the great and good of international banking and finance. The vice-governor of the central bank has to draw his conversation with Euromoney to a close. That’s Hank Paulson, chairman and chief executive of Goldman Sachs cooling his heels in reception. Yes, prince Alwaleed is available but only after his meeting with Chuck Prince, chairman and CEO of Citigroup, in town to plead for a way back into the country Citigroup quit just a couple of years ago.

Stock market crash obscures Saudi boom

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Stock market crash obscures Saudi boom

Thanks for your interest in Euromoney!To unlock this article:

Future capital markets infrastructure: Fungible, fractionalised and fused

Eastward bound: Why Gulf banks are tapping Asia’s capital markets

Islamic Finance Innovation 2025

Time to shine: Can Europe’s capital markets take centre stage?

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To unlock this article: