Ten foreign banks have been licensed to operate and open branches in Saudi Arabia, according to the deputy governor of Saudi Arabian Monetar...

Ten foreign banks have been licensed to operate and open branches in Saudi Arabia, according to the deputy governor of Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, Muhammad Al-Jasser. Mr Al-Jasser also said that the country now has sufficient banks to meet its requirements and that new banks can be opened when there is a huge new supply of capital. The newly licensed foreign banks are; BNP Paribas, JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank, the National Bank of Kuwait, the National Bank of Bahrain, Emirates Bank, Gulf International Bank, State Bank of India, National Bank of Pakistan and BankMuscat. BNP Paribas, which opened its branch in Riyadh last month, was the first European bank to enter the Saudi market. Saudi Arabia was officially admitted to the World Trade Organisation last Friday and foreign licensed banks can now set up branches and existing joint venture banks can increase their foreign equity to 60 per cent from 40 per cent to comply with WTO regulations. However, Mr Al-Jasser said Saudi Arabia had not been forced to open new Saudi or foreign banks because of its accession to the WTO. "The opening of new branches is based on the country's need, not on WTO membership," he said. The 11 Saudi banks; National Commercial, Riyad, Samba, Rajhi, Saudi-British, Saudi Fransi, Arab National, AlJazira, Saudi Hollandi, Albilad and Saudi Investment, have made a total third quarter profit of SR19.6 billion ($5.2 billion) this year.