(Bloomberg) -- BlackRock Inc. received approval from Saudi Arabia to set up its regional headquarters in Riyadh, the latest sign that the kingdom is having some success in attracting more financial firms to set up bases in the country.
With the move, BlackRock will be able to expand its operations across the Middle East, according to a statement. The company established BlackRock Saudi Arabia Company six years ago and is regulated by the kingdom’s Capital Market Authority.
“BlackRock plays an important role in Saudi Arabia’s asset management landscape,” Hassan Alduhaim, senior adviser of the minister of investment of Saudi Arabia, said in the statement. “We look forward to BlackRock’s continued growth in Saudi Arabia and the Region.”
Under new rules that came into force this year, firms must have a regional base in Saudi Arabia with at least 15 employees, including executives overseeing other countries or risk losing business with the kingdom’s vast network of government entities.
More than 500 companies have set up their regional headquarters in Riyadh since the launch of the kingdom’s program, Alduhaim said in the statement.
That includes Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which earlier this year became the first Wall Street bank to received a license from the kingdom’s Ministry of Investment.
BlackRock has been intensifying its efforts to grow in the kingdom. Earlier this year, the company announced it would get as much as $5 billion from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund to invest in the Middle East and build a Riyadh-based investments team.
The $10.5 trillion asset manager in recent months also hosted a gathering of top corporate executives and government officials in Riyadh, the firm’s first event of this scale in the Saudi capital.
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