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Article: Middle East & Africa: Saudi Arabia - Keys To The Kingdom - Saudi Arabia Seems To Be Entering A New Golden Age, With Barriers To The Financial Sector Being Lowered And Project Finance Booming. Stephen Timewell Reports From Riyadh And Jeddah.
- Article from:
- The Banker
- Article date:
- April 1, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 FT Business. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: STEPHEN TIMEWELL
The world's largest oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, has created enormous wealth in the past 30 years or more but, despite this, its financial sector has remained largely closed with entry strictly controlled. While briefcase bankers have breezed in from Bahrain, London and New York to grab a slice of the billions of petrodollar action available, the walls have been up, and for the past two decades the financial sector has consisted largely of just 10 banks, albeit including some joint ventures with some of the world's biggest banks.
But change is afoot. In the middle of yet another oil boom - very different from those of 1973 and ...