November 2019

The Saudi British Bank (SABB) held the 2019 "Economist" Roadshow on October 28th in Riyadh. The event hosted a number of HSBC's most renowned economists, and attended by a group of businessmen and high-profile SABB customers from the retail and corporate sector.

The key speakers at the Roadshow this year were Mr. Stephen King - HSBC Senior Economist Advisor, Mr. David Bloom - HSBC Global Head of FX Strategy, and Mr. Simon Williams – HSBC Chief Economist, CEEMEA.

The event started with an opening remarks by Majed Najm, SABB Deputy Managing Director, Corporate and Institutional Banking, in which he affirmed SABB's commitment to carry out its role in realizing the Kingdom’s vision 2030 aspirations; at the forefront of which is the most significant historical event in the Kingdom's financial sector, namely the merger of SABB and Alawwal Bank to create the third largest bank in the Kingdom. This is in addition to SABB’s vibrant contribution to the development of the national economy by supporting major projects, national institutions and companies of various categories. He pointed out to SABB's vision to become the leading global bank in the Kingdom.

The speakers presented their interpretations of the global economy and the factors influencing the near and medium perspectives. Stephen King shed light on the major challenges fronting the global economy, and David Bloom shared his insight into the factors influencing the prices of the major currencies, while Simon Williams talk about the factors influencing the economic growth in the region.

To conclude the event, Mohammed Al-Shaikh- Deputy Managing Director Treasury at SABB, thanked both the participating speakers and the customers for attending the event. He also highlighted a number of key initiatives directly aligned to Vision 2030. In addition to emphasizing that SABB’s approach to customer relationships is based not just on doing business, but on building strategic partnerships and providing solutions that meet expectations and take market dynamics into consideration.