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Samba Presents Vision for Future of Banking Sector at Euromoney Saudi Arabia 2019

Chairman of Samba Financial Group Ammar al-Khudairy
Chairman of Samba Financial Group Ammar al-Khudairy
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Samba Presents Vision for Future of Banking Sector at Euromoney Saudi Arabia 2019

Chairman of Samba Financial Group Ammar al-Khudairy
Chairman of Samba Financial Group Ammar al-Khudairy

Samba Financial Group has announced its participation as the main sponsor of the 14th edition of Euromoney Saudi Arabia Conference 2019 to be held on Sept. 18-19, 2019 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Riyadh.

Financial policy makers, leaders of Saudi Arabia's regulatory, financial, banking and technical bodies and a mass of leading international experts will participate in the event.

Panel discussions will include Minister of Commerce and Investment Dr. Majid Abdullah al-Kassabi, Governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority Dr. Ahmed Abdulkarim al-Kholifey and Chairman of the Capital Market Authority (CMA) Mohammed El-Kuwaiz.

Chairman of Samba Financial Group Ammar al-Khudairy will also participate as a keynote speaker at this year's Euromoney conference as part of an inaugural financial session at its Oxford Union platform.

Khudairy will present Samba’s vision on the reality of the traditional banking sector in Saudi Arabia, its future trends and its vital role for the national economy that keeps up with financial developments and strategies adopted by the Kingdom under the umbrella of the its Vision 2030.

Samba’s participation in the event comes in light of the Group's keenness to confirm its active presence in various events related to the financial, banking and economic activities in the country, being described as as one of the main engines of the banking industry in the Kingdom.

In addition to the importance of the ideas and visions presented by the conference regarding the qualitative changes in the financial and economic policies aimed at transforming the Saudi market into an attractive international hub for business and investment.

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Saudi Aramco Reportedly Sells Oil from Jafurah Field as Huge Project Starts

Saudi Aramco's Jafurah project. Photo: Aramco
Saudi Aramco's Jafurah project. Photo: Aramco
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Saudi Aramco Reportedly Sells Oil from Jafurah Field as Huge Project Starts

Saudi Aramco's Jafurah project. Photo: Aramco
Saudi Aramco's Jafurah project. Photo: Aramco

Saudi Aramco sold oil from its $100 billion Jafurah project in the first reported export from the massive natural gas development, Bloomberg reported.

Jafurah is Aramco’s first unconventional field, developed using the type of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, techniques pioneered in the US shale patch.

The deposit, which Chief Executive Officer Amin Nasser calls the company’s crown jewel, will produce massive amounts of natural gas once at capacity, expected in 2030. It also has plentiful volume of liquid fuels that will boost the company’s returns, Nasser has said.

The oil that Aramco sold is condensate, a light oil liquid that’s often found in gas deposits, according to traders with knowledge of the purchases. It will go to buyers in Asia for loading later this month or in early March, Bloomberg quoted the traders as saying.

Business

Industry Ministry: Saudi Arabia Saw 220% Surge in Mining Licenses in 2025

The surge highlights the appeal of the mining investment environment in the Kingdom. SPA
The surge highlights the appeal of the mining investment environment in the Kingdom. SPA
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Industry Ministry: Saudi Arabia Saw 220% Surge in Mining Licenses in 2025

The surge highlights the appeal of the mining investment environment in the Kingdom. SPA
The surge highlights the appeal of the mining investment environment in the Kingdom. SPA

The Saudi Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources has announced record growth in the number of new mining exploitation licenses issued in 2025, showing a remarkable increase of 220% compared to 2024.

The surge highlights the appeal of the mining investment environment and the ministry's ongoing efforts to promote the exploration and utilization of the Kingdom's mineral resources, which are valued at over SAR9.4 trillion.

Jarrah Al-Jarrah, the ministry’s spokesperson, revealed that total investment in these new licensing projects has exceeded SAR44 billion, focused on the extraction of high-quality mineral ores, including gold and phosphate.

Al-Jarrah emphasized that the ministry is dedicated to facilitating mining investments and streamlining the process for both local and international investors, thereby supporting sector development and maximizing returns.

This effort aligns with the objectives of Saudi Vision 2030, which aims to position mining as the third pillar of national industry and a key contributor to economic diversification.

The Saudi mining sector made significant progress in the 2024 annual survey of mining companies conducted by the Fraser Institute of Canada.

The Kingdom improved its position in the Mining Investment Attractiveness Index, moving up from 114th place in 2013 to 23rd place globally. This achievement underscores the effectiveness of regulatory and legislative reforms within the sector.

Business

UK Economy Barely Grew in Q4 as Budget Uncertainty Weighed

The financial district of the City of London (Reuters)
The financial district of the City of London (Reuters)
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UK Economy Barely Grew in Q4 as Budget Uncertainty Weighed

The financial district of the City of London (Reuters)
The financial district of the City of London (Reuters)

Britain's economy barely grew in the final quarter of 2025 as activity fared worse than initially estimated during the run-up to finance minister Rachel Reeves' budget, official figures showed on Thursday.

Gross domestic product grew by 0.1% in the October-to-December period, the same slow pace as in the third quarter, the Office for National Statistics said.

Economists polled by Reuters, as well as the Bank of England, had forecast 0.2% fourth-quarter growth compared with the ‌previous three months.

The ‌period was marked by rampant speculation about tax increases ‌ahead ⁠of Reeves' budget ⁠on November 26. The ONS revised down monthly GDP data for the three months to November to show a 0.1% contraction rather than 0.1% growth.

Some more recent data have suggested that uncertainty has lifted for consumers and businesses.

"Looking at various surveys, there were some tentative signs that sentiment turned a corner and started to improve after the budget last year, which could help deliver a pick-up in activity this ⁠year," Luke Bartholomew, deputy chief economist at Aberdeen, said.

"However, recent ‌political uncertainty may see that sentiment bounce reverse."

Prime ‌Minister Keir Starmer has had to fight to keep his grip on Downing Street this ‌week due to fallout from the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.

Thursday's figures underscored why ‌investors think that the Bank of England is more likely than not to cut interest rates again in March.

The monthly GDP data showed a sharp downward revision to growth.

The data suggested hesitancy on the part of businesses during the fourth quarter as their investment fell ‌by almost 3% - the biggest quarter-on-quarter drop since early 2021, driven largely by volatile transport investment.

Economist Thomas Pugh at ⁠tax and consultancy ⁠firm RSM said the overall weakness in business investment suggested budget uncertainty held back investment and spending.

Manufacturing was the biggest driver of the increase in output, despite the fact that car output was still recovering from September's cyber attack on Jaguar Land Rover, while the dominant services sector was flat. Construction output contracted by 2.1%.

In 2025 as a whole, Britain's economy grew by an annual average 1.3%, the Office for National Statistics said, compared with 0.9% in France, 0.7% in Italy and 0.4% in Germany.

British economic growth per head contracted by 0.1% for a second quarter, although it rose by 1.0% for 2025 as a whole.

In December alone, the economy grew by 0.1%, the ONS said, as expected in the Reuters poll. That left the size of the economy back at its level of June 2025.