Barclays Plc is returning to Saudi Arabia after an 11-year absence, marking both a strategic expansion for the British lender and a symbolic validation of Riyadh’s growing status as a corporate command center in the Middle East. This decision, first reported by Bloombergcomes as the kingdom accelerates efforts under the country’s Vision 2030 plan to diversify its oil-based economy and attract multinational headquarters to its capital.
The bank, which left Saudi Arabia in 2014, is in the process of obtaining a new investment banking license and plans to open offices in Riyadh by early 2026, CEO CS Venkatakrishnan said in an interview with Bloomberg TV, where he was attending the Fortune Global Forum and the kingdom’s flagship Future Investment Initiative annual summit. Confirming the bank’s return to Saudi Arabia and that the kingdom will “recognize” the new regional headquarters in just a few days, the kingdom’s Minister of Investments, Khalid Al-Falih, said: “People have seen that the kingdom is a long-term partner. We are not transactional. »
Venkatakrishnan said Fortune Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell says working with trusted partners is important “because you’re making pretty big commitments, financial and otherwise, and you need to work with partners that you can trust and who are there for the long term and who will help you get through the initial bumps.” »
Barclays joins a growing list of financial giants like Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and HSBC, which are putting deeper roots in the Gulf’s largest economy; on the other hand, JP Morgan is celebrating 90 years of activity in the region. The move underscores Saudi Arabia’s ambition to transition from an oil superpower to a diversified global trade and financial center, and increasingly a strategic link from which major companies can easily access three different continents.
The broader RHQ program
Saudi Arabia’s economic transformation plan, known as Vision 2030, is 85% complete, Minister Al-Falih said in his opening speech at the Fortune Global Forum. The strategy has already attracted more than 675 regional seats – well beyond its initial target of 500 by 2030 – thanks to generous incentives such as 30-year tax holidays, tax relief and streamlined regulatory frameworks.
The government Regional Headquarters Programlaunched in 2021 by the Royal Commission for the City of Riyadh, aims to make the capital the de facto economic center of the Middle East. Multinational players such as PwC, Deloitte, Lenovo and Siemens Energy have already relocated their leadership operations from Dubai and other hubs to Riyadh. Unlike special economic zone offices elsewhere, Riyadh RHQs are designed to serve as true operational bases – not token branches – managing corporate strategy and human capital across the Middle East and Africa. Additionally, Riyadh’s trillion-dollar transformation, supported by NEOM, the Public Investment Fund (PIF) and mega-projects in tourism, AI and green energy, represents a lucrative opportunity for financiers.
In a breakout session at the Fortune Global Forum, executives hailed the program as transformative for localization, manufacturing and innovation. Lenovo executives, for example, detailed the construction of the region’s largest ICT manufacturing plant in the Saudi desert, while Siemens Energy executives talked about expanding exports across the Middle East through its Riyadh-based regional hub.
In a conversation with Diane Brady, executive editorial director of Fortune Live Media, executives from Massimo, Siemens and Lucid Motors highlighted that their RHQs have allowed them to do things like large-scale production, export vehicles to Europe and build AI-based healthcare and transportation systems from inside the kingdom.
