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Anthony Habis, Head of the Middle East and Africa, BNY Mellon, gave a bullish outlook for Saudi Arabia’s GDP growth in the next year and beyond.
The Kingdom’s market continues to evolve in line with the National Investment Strategy. It also continues to attract global investors, whilst developing first-class infrastructure, cybersecurity and data resiliency solutions.
BNY Mellon is also highly focused on digital transformation, and specifically digital assets and blockchain.
Elsewhere, Akash Shah, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Growth Officer, BNY Mellon, said he was cautiously optimistic about where capital markets are heading in 2022 and beyond, backed by the continuous democratization of markets, increasing demand and reducing barriers to market entry.
Governments and global business communities are actually coming together to drive growth. Public and private-sector institutions seem also prepared to make big, bold investments for the future
Shah also expected fairness and trust in capital markets key priorities among participants, especially after COVID.
Here’s the full interview with Habis and Shah:
1) How do you see digital transformation and sustainability playing out in the Kingdom and beyond?
Anthony Habis:
In alignment with Saudi Vision 2030, we’re helping create a diversified financial services sector in the Kingdom to support development. We’re optimistic about GDP growth in the next year and beyond.
As the Kingdom’s market continues to evolve in line with the National Investment Strategy, Saudi continues to attract global investors, whilst developing first-class infrastructure, cybersecurity and data resiliency solutions.
BNY Mellon is also highly focused on digital transformation, and specifically digital assets and blockchain. The Kingdom’s central bank has been supportive of blockchain and fostered a friendly regulatory environment.
We continue to see a focus on the ESG agenda in the region, with economies that have historically been hydrocarbon-dependent making a pledge to move toward sustainable development.
The Kingdom has pledged to cut carbon emissions and invest in renewable energy, with a goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2060.
2) What do you see as the major trends shaping the global economy and the future of capital markets in 2022?
Akash Shah:
Overall, I am cautiously optimistic about where capital markets are heading in 2022 and beyond. I view this as an inflection point where governments and global business communities are actually coming together to drive growth. Public and private-sector institutions seem prepared to make big, bold investments for the future.
Broad trends that I believe will continue are the democratization of markets, increasing demand and lower barriers to market entry, and evolving roles for traditional financial intermediaries.
I also see a growing focus on ESG and market resiliency for investor classes around the world.
Private market opportunities will continue to abound, and I also think the public-private divide will continue to become more blurred. I believe that while we’ve seen a temporary lull in the SPAC (special purpose acquisition company) market in the U.S. and Europe, interest in the Middle East and especially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will only increase.
The makeup of the global workforce will look different moving forward, and the imperative will fall on young leaders to ready the financial industry for change.
As we head into the next chapter, and especially after COVID, I think we are at a core inflection point, with financial inclusion, fairness and trust in capital markets key priorities among participants. This all centers on data; the future of capital markets depends on transparency, and who gets a right to what, which gives the announcement additional significance. We also believe we have the opportunity to build the leading global capital markets in the Kingdom.
3) In a previous statement to Argaam, you cited partnerships with major entities and firms in the Kingdom. Can you give us more insight about your operations in the Saudi market?
Akash Shah:
With our extensive history of providing world-class data solutions to some of the most significant players in the market, aggressive investment in data management, and persistent focus on innovation, BNY Mellon is uniquely positioned to be a strategic ally for clients at this market inflection point.
We have $45.3 trillion in assets under custody or administration, $2.5 trillion under management, and we service the world’s premiere institutions.
We’re equally delighted to have a significant footprint in the region. We’ve been interested in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: a significant G20 economy, a powerhouse in the GCC and MENA region capital market landscape and home to many sophisticated institutional clients.
SNB Capital is an example of a visionary institution that recognizes the need to future-proof its infrastructure to serve clients, which is why we view them as a key ally.
We are combining the strengths of two leading institutions to build a robust, market-leading, and inclusive capital markets in the Kingdom and beyond.
Anthony Habis:
We see a strong affinity between Saudi Vision 2030 and BNY Mellon’s purpose-driven growth agenda through a shared focus on sustainability, resiliency, and digital.
BNY Mellon historically has been a premiere authority on the reimagining of capital markets, and we see this as part of our mission in KSA, aligning with Saudi Vision 2030. We’ve served KSA clients for many years, fostering enduring relationships built on trust and commitment – those will only deepen as we continue to help the Kingdom transform.
Our presence in the Kingdom reflects the support we provide to institutional investors and large asset owners looking to access our global capabilities and as a gateway to institutional investors who want to access KSA markets. We’re helping on a macro level through infrastructure innovation, and we’re also empowering leading individual institutions and investors like SNB Capital.
BNY Mellon and SNB Capital have been working in collaboration since 2019 to jointly bring integrated world-class global securities services capabilities to institutional and large asset owners based in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Our alliance marked a key milestone in the Kingdom’s capital markets infrastructure and supports key tenets Saudi Vision 2030: creating a diversified financial services sector to support the development of the national economy.
With the expanded data collaboration, BNY Mellon provides the framework and tools for acquiring, analyzing and managing data so SNB Capital’s clients – some of the largest institutional players in the region – can use it for competitive gains.
Our joint efforts further support the Kingdom’s national agenda for a diverse and sustainable economy and contribute toward realising the vision. Our collective focus remains on addressing the demand to adopt global best practices of segregated asset management, brokerage and custody functions following the launch of the Kingdom’s Independent Custody Model in 2017.
4.) What is the market impact of the data management solution that BNY Mellon and SNB Capital launched in 2021, and how will it benefit clients?
Akash Shah:
The platform is powered by the world’s leading financial services data platform – built for and run in the Saudi Arabia for BNY Mellon’s clients.
The collaboration with SNB Capital is significant as it is one of the first data-management solutions collaboration of its kind in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We believe data has emerged as its own asset class and view data management as a core capability as capital markets evolve, driven by a demand for more and more transparency.
BNY Mellon’s data platform unites all market participants and enables organizations to transform their data landscapes by centralizing and effectively managing complex investment assets.
Capabilities include providing user-centred solutions that deliver accurate and timely data, gauge risk exposure and provide system-wide security via a centralized data repository, while in accordance with all data residency requirements in the Kingdom.
Built upon an open ecosystem, this structure enables collaboration with leading technology providing clients the tools for using data in the front, middle and back offices.
The platform also aims to accelerate the optimization of typically manual investment workflows and will offer clients significant opportunities to improve their performance through enhanced data flows.
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