Israel's Bank Leumi would like to tap into investment opportunities in Saudi Arabia, Chairman Samer Haj Yehia told a business forum in Riyadh, which he is attending in the latest sign of a potential thawing in Saudi-Israeli relations.
The presence of Bank Leumi, one of Israel's two largest banks, at the kingdom's flagship investment event suggested this marked another gesture by Riyadh towards warmer ties with Israel after fellow Gulf states the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain forged ties with Israel in 2020, with Saudi blessings.
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Samer Haj-Yehia, chairman of Israel's Bank Leumi, speaks in a panel on the third day of the annual Future Investment Initiative (FII) conference in Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh
(Photo: AFP)
"We can see that there's a lot of investment going on, and we want to tap into that kind of investment, whether it's on the payment side or on the retail side or on the cryptocurrency side," Haj Yehia told a panel at the FII forum on Thursday.
Haj Yehia, the first Arab Israeli to serve as Leumi's chairman, declined to comment further when approached by Reuters.
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Samer Haj-Yehia, chairman of Israel's Bank Leumi (right) participates in panel at Saudi Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh
(Photo: AFP)
Riyadh has said it will not normalize ties with Israel in the absence of a resolution to Palestinian statehood goals, but made some overtures earlier this year including opening its airspace to all airlines, including Israeli carriers.
The Future Investment Initiative (FII) is a showcase for the Saudi crown prince's drive to modernize the Gulf Arab state, wean its economy off oil revenues and attract foreign capital.
In 2020 Bank Leumi signed memorandums of understanding with two leading banks in the United Arab Emirates - First Abu Dhabi Bank and Emirates NBD.