NEW OLD GUARD

Obaid Alrasheed, Managing Director and CEO of Saudi's arab national bank, has been with the organization for his entire 35-year career, yet only took the helm three years ago. As he sees profits soar, he's looking forward to the future.

- JASON LASRADO

While the Middle East’s stock markets have been facing increasing uncertainty, and the region’s top 100 listed companies saw a 5.1% decrease in sales from $1.1 trillion in 2022 to $1 trillion in 2023, the banking sector has proved to be resilient to challenges, supported by higher interest rates and oil prices.

The aggregate market cap of the 30 most valuable banks in the Middle East grew by 14% in the year leading up to February 2024, hitting $581.1 billion. Saudi’s arab national bank (anb) has been among the top performers, seeing its profits grow by 20.1% to $658 million in H1 2024, compared to the same period in 2023. In 2023, anb recorded profits of $1.1 billion, the highest in its history.

Obaid Alrasheed, Managing Director and CEO of anb, has been at the helm of the bank since 2021, focusing on improving operations, resource management, competitiveness, and digitization. “Our performance is a natural result of our strategic efforts to enhance our presence and role in Saudi’s banking sector,” says the Saudi national.

anb was formed in 1979 when the Saudi government took over the operations of Jordan’s biggest bank, the Arab Bank, in Saudi Arabia by royal decree. Arab Bank is still the biggest shareholder in anb, with a 40% stake in the company. When anb was formed it had just six branches; today it has over 124 serving over two million customers. The bank was listed on Saudi’s stock exchange (Tadawul) in 1979 and had a market value of about $11.4 billion as of July 2024. Around 48% of its operating income comes from retail banking, with corporate banking contributing 37% and Treasury operations contributing 7%.