Tel:	+966 (1) 405 0677

Fax:	+966 (1) 405 0660

Acticities:
Personal Banking Services
Commercial Banking Services
Investing Services
Islamic Banking Services
Internal Branches 80
One Branch in London
No of Employees 2044

The British Bank of the Middle East (predecessor of the Saudi British Bank) was allowed to open offices in Jeddah and Al Khobar. Its clients however were mostly new foreign oil workers and not locals, and the market remained under the wing of local banks. With only two local banks dominating the market, the National Commercial Bank and the Riyadh Bank, complaints about high bank charges and poor service forced the authorities to take some action in the mid-1970s. Fundamentalist Muslim and nationalistic elements were criticizing the authorities for permitting foreign banks to operate at all on Saudi Arabian soil. Therefore the authorities decided to try to satisfy all critics by Saudi-izing the foreign banks, but at the same time permitting them to expand their branch networks to create a more competitive banking environment. The Saudi-ization was carried out by offering 60 per cent of the shareholdings of the domestic operations of the foreign banks, such as the British Bank of the Middle East, which became the Saudi British Bank, to local private citizens, and letting the parent company retain the remainder.
In 1980 the Saudi British Bank opened women’s branches.

The Saudi British Bank was established by the Royal Decree number M/4

Legal Status: joint stock
Capital: 533.3 million USD
Saudi Shareholders 60%
HSBC Holdings BV 40%