Press Releases

<p>Riyad Bank <br /> The best way to understand the evolution of the likes of Riyad Bank in recent years is to flick through the pages of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, a vast diversification project by the region’s most important economy.</p><p>One of the overarching plans of Vision 2030 is to devote more resources to small and medium-sized enterprises, a financial demographic was overlooked by the country’s lenders for way too long. At the heart of it is a government-led strategy, called the Kafalah Program was backed by the Saudi Industrial Development Fund and channels lending to smaller enterprises.</p><p>The program is being augmented by a government initiative, introduced in March 2020 in response to the pandemic, to channel another SR50 billion ($13.33 billion) in financial aid to smaller firms struggling because of a sluggish economy.</p><p>All banks take Kafalah seriously but none more so than Riyad Bank, led by CEO Tariq Al-Sadhan.</p><p>Working in harmony with the programme, it increased its total financing of SMEs in 2019 by 45% year on year.</p><p>Of all the lending channeled to smaller firms under the aegis of Kafalah, more than a quarter has been the preserve of Riyad Bank.</p><p>The country’s third-largest lender by assets, it has 21 centers and offices dotted around the Kingdom, dedicated to serving small and medium-sized firms, many of which are located in remote areas. Three of those opened for business in 2019.</p><p>Riyad Bank has also streamlined its SME underwriting process to ensure that smaller businesses don’t have to wait too long to secure credit or to apply for a new service or account. During the awards period, it launched point-of-sale financing and debit cards for micro-sized enterprises.</p><p>Its investment in the segment continues to pay off. Total income generated from SMEs rose 42% year on year in 2019; the number of domestic small businesses with a borrowing relationship with Riyad Bank rose 20.4% over the same period.</p>