Citi appoints Wassim Al-Khatib as Saudi CEO

Wassim Al-Khatib has been appointed as the CEO of Citi Saudi Arabia, subject to approval by the Saudi Arabian Capital Market Authority (CMA), the lender announced on May 18.

Al-Khatib will be responsible for Citi’s regulated business in Saudi Arabia and for coordinating the overall delivery to clients in the kingdom, a statement said.

He will be reporting to Linos Lekkas, head of Citi’s corporate and investment banking Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEEMEA), and Carmen Haddad, vice chairperson Citi Middle East and country officer Citi Saudi Arabia.

Al-Khatib joins from National Commercial Bank (NCB) and NCB Capital where he had spent fifteen years, most recently as managing director and head of NCB Capital’s investment banking.

“The kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a critical component of Citi’s Middle East strategy and is an essential growth market for Citi globally,” said Haddad. “Wassim is a highly experienced banker with the right expertise to continue driving our strategy of serving our clients and contributing to the kingdom’s generational transformation.’ ”

In April 2017, the CMA granted Citi a licence to provide a range of investment banking, debt and equity capital markets, and securities research capabilities to its local and international institutional clients. Besides providing financial advisory on public and private projects, joint ventures and strategic alliances and privatisation, Citi Saudi Arabia also advises on debt and equity raising structuring and restructuring.

In April, Citigroup announced plans to exit retail banking in 13 markets across Asia and the Europe, Middle East and Africa region.

Read: Citigroup to exit retail banking in 13 markets, including Bahrain

The bank will instead operate its consumer-banking franchise in both regions from four wealth centers in Singapore, Hong Kong, the UAE and London.