JPMorgan Chase heads to Saudi Arabia

New York: JPMorgan Chase plans to become the first US bank to open a full-service commercial branch in Saudi Arabia this year, six years after Citigroup exited a venture in the world's biggest oil exporter.

The firm, building on an investment banking office, is adding services to attract more corporate and institutional customers, said Daniel Cotti, the New York-based bank's executive for global trade services.

It obtained a full commercial banking licence from the Saudi government in 2005 and is now the only US financial firm to hold one.

The expansion is part of a plan to accelerate growth in emerging markets also including Asia, South America and Eastern Europe.

"In North America and in Europe, the economic recovery is very slow," Cotti, 51, said in an interview. "But if you look at the emerging markets, those economies are growing at 6 or more per cent."

New post

Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon, 54, named longtime associate Heidi Miller in June to a newly created post of president of JPMorgan International to help win business outside the United States.

Cotti is overseeing a plan to expand the trade-services unit, which provides institutional clients with guarantees, settlement services and credit lines. "Trade finance is often seen in the emerging markets as an entry product," he said. "Once you have the clients on board, then you cross-sell all the other bank products to the clients and create full-fledged relationships."

In the 1970s, the Saudi government forced foreign banks such as Citigroup, HSBC Holdings and ABN Amro Holdings to sell majority stakes in their local operations to Saudi nationals. A 2003 law opened the door for foreign banks to apply for licences.