Marc Bürki has revealed it is only a matter of time before Swissquote branches out into Saudi Arabia.
The global CEO of the Swiss internet bank told Arabian Business they are more than happy with their presence in Dubai, where the company has had an office for the last ten years.
“We use Dubai as a hub so we address an expat community on the retail side according to our license, but for the B2B business we are active in the entire region, from Lebanon, to Jordan and we have partners in Bahrain,” he said.
But he admitted he was keeping an eye on neighbouring Saudi Arabia as the kingdom introduces a raft of reforms to open itself up to the business world, particularly relaxing business ownership laws to allow for 100 percent foreign ownership.
As a result of these measures, KSA earned a spot in this year’s top 10 global business climate improvers, according to the World Bank Group’s Doing Business 2020 report.
Bürki said it may be a little early to move into the Saudi market, but added it was one they were watching developments closely.
“As any market which is opening up, the question is whether you should be the first. I think it’s certainly an interesting market. It’s a little bit like being in Europe and not targeting Germany,” he said.
Headquartered in Gland, Swissquote, which has a major brand partnership with English football giants Manchester United, has offices in Zurich, Bern, Malta, London and Hong Kong. Its main customer base from Dubai is comprised primarily of expats from the UK, Germany, Switzerland, South Africa, France and Ireland.
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