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From the Liveblog of Thursday, October 27, 2022

In Saudi Arabia, Arab Israeli banker talks up investment in kingdom

By AFP 27 October 2022, 5:29 pm Edit

Li Tong (4th-R), CEO at BOC International Holdings; Susan Rice (3rd-R), British banker and Chair of the GEFI Global Steering Group; Francois Wat (2nd-R), senior Partner and co-head of Global Equity Advisory at Rothschild Paris; and Samer Haj-Yehia, chairman of Israel's Bank Leumi (R) attend a panel on the third day of the annual Future Investment Initiative (FII) conference in Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh on October 27, 2022. - (Photo by Fayez Nureldine / AFP)

The head of an Israeli bank appeared at a Saudi investor forum today and hailed “amazing” opportunities in the kingdom, a sign of the business world’s interest in seeing diplomatic ties between the former enemies.

Samer Haj-Yehia, the Arab Israeli chairman of Bank Leumi since 2019, was addressing the Future Investment Initiative, a three-day conference held in the Saudi capital and often referred to as “Davos in the Desert.”

“The opportunities are amazing and the fintech industry in particular is on the rise,” he says during a panel discussion.

“You see the economy is very healthy, unlike other economies around the world, and the prospects for the future are very positive,” he adds, highlighting strong access to capital in oil-rich Saudi and the young population’s adoption of “very advanced mobile technology.”

His comments follow rampant speculation about future bilateral ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel, which US officials stoked ahead of President Joe Biden’s visit to Jeddah in July.

Saudi Arabia does not recognize Israel and did not join the 2020 US-brokered Abraham Accords that saw the Jewish state establish ties with two of the kingdom’s neighbors, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.