United Arab Emirates

Banking & Cash Management in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates

Report date: 
18 Jun 2025

Commentary

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. These two countries draw a lively and enthusiastic participation every time we discuss them: they are important markets, due to their wealth, but they have historically been quite challenging. Despite their strong financial position and stable currencies, their regulations can be difficult to manage – and their position at the heart of a region of massive geopolitical tension adds to the complexities.

Saudi Arabia, while sitting on massive oil reserves, has always been very conservative. It only began allowing 100% foreign ownership of companies in many sectors in 2019: most MNCs worked via distributors, joint ventures and representative offices. So the economy is relatively open, but MNCs often have a weaker presence than would normally be expected. With recent political changes, many rules have been relaxed. Tourism and inward investment are encouraged and there are some truly massive infrastructure investments. As companies establish their onshore presence in the country, they are even required to establish a regional headquarters.

The UAE has always been more open, though this varies amongst the seven emirates which compose it. The two main ones are Dubai, which has always been a major port and trading centre, especially between India and East Africa, and Abu Dhabi. Dubai is the most open, and has traditionally welcomed foreigners and foreign investment: it is where most of our peers have operations – often managing the region - and where it is easiest for them to work.

Corporate Treasury & Banking in Saudi Arabia

Most of our corporate treasury peers are setting up RHQs in Saudi, as required by the legislation. Many of the challenges they face are part of the process of transitioning from an offshore mode of operations using distributors and representative offices, to being fully onshore. To some extent, the same can be said of the international banks.

Though the currency is pegged to the US dollar, and freely convertible, there are challenges:

  • Cash pooling is only allowed with official....
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Topics covered in this report: 
Bank Accounts, Bank Relationships, Cash - deposits, Cash Pooling - cross border, Cash Pooling - domestic, Cash Repatriation, Local ownership
Service providers discussed in this report: 
JP Morgan, BNP Paribas, HSBC, Standard Chartered, Bank of America

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Treasury & Banking in Iraq

Report date: 
29 Mar 2022

Commentary

As is evident from recent events, things can go wrong when one country invades another. Iraq is very much a case in point…..

Despite the serious and much reported security issues, all participants find it relatively easy to conduct business in the country. Foreign currency is readily available, and can be remitted out of the country, though things can slow down when the price of oil declines and dollars become scarcer. However, most participants do not have large operations, and they often sell their hardware offshore in dollars. 

There are operational challenges:

Relations between the Kurdistan region and Baghdad are not good: it can be very difficult to transfer cash between the two.

Not many foreign banks are very active in the country: Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) is one of the most active, and one of the few to be present in Baghdad and Kurdistan.

In Kurdistan, tax payments have to be made through...please sign in to continue reading

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Topics covered in this report: 
FX, Bank Relationships, Banking
Service providers discussed in this report: 
Standard Chartered, Credit Suisse, SWIFT, Byblos Bank, Bank of Beirut, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, National Bank of Iraq

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