Emirates NBD plans Saudi expansion with 20 new branches: report

Emirates NBD, Dubai’s biggest bank by assets, is looking to expand in Saudi Arabia next year as it seeks permission to open 20 additional branches in the Kingdom, group chief executive Shayne Nelson told UAE newspaper The National.

The lender has already received permission for three branches in Khobar, Riyadh, and Jeddah earlier this year and plans to open them in Q1 2018. After that, it will approach the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA), the Kingdom’s central bank, for more licenses.

“We will knock on their door once we have actually done that [branch openings],” Nelson told The National. “We can certainly open a couple of dozen branches within the next three to five years if we get the licenses. I think we would be very happy with that number.”

Emirates NBD was the first non-Saudi bank given permission to increase its foothold in the Kingdom, the report said.

With Saudi Arabia being the region’s biggest economy, Mr. Nelson said that the Kingdom is the place to be.

“It’s a terrific economy,” he said, adding that Emirates NBD does not want to launch too many branches in the country as future technologies are going to limit the requirements of a large branch network.

The lender had only one branch in Riyadh before securing permission for three more. It had chased SAMA for a decade to expand in the country.

Meanwhile, the bank is also seeking acquisitions of banking assets across the Gulf region, Africa, and Turkey as part of its expansion agenda.