RIYADH, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- A banking official from the National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) revealed on Thursday that the bank is seriously considering applying for a license to handle the Chinese currency renminbi and seeking approvals in this regard from regulatory authorities in Kuwait and China.
Meshari Bin Salamah, deputy general manager of the NBK's International Banking Group, described this development as a major step that will benefit the bank's clients, particularly Chinese companies. He made these remarks in an interview with Xinhua on the sidelines of the Future Investment Initiative (FII) conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
"Handling the Chinese currency will allow us to offer financial instruments and loans in additional currencies. If we obtain the license, we anticipate that some of these transactions will be conducted in Chinese renminbi," he added.
He said that the NBK Group's presence in the Chinese market is not new, beginning nearly 20 years ago in 2005 with the opening of a representative office in Shanghai.
As its business grew, the representative office was upgraded to a branch in 2017 to meet the needs of Gulf clients, especially Kuwaitis with transactions in the Chinese market, as well as large Chinese companies aiming to enter the Gulf market.
Regarding investment cooperation opportunities between China and Middle Eastern countries, the Kuwaiti banker emphasized that China could play a key role in energy projects and in providing human resources to meet regional market needs, thereby generating returns for both Chinese investments and Gulf economies.
He highlighted changes in projects implemented by foreign companies in Kuwait, saying, "While contractors from Europe and America previously dominated the majority of these projects, we have seen a shift in recent years. Chinese contractors have increasingly entered the market, significantly boosting their market share, while improving the quality of the products and services they provide in the region's markets."
The Kuwaiti banker expects that Chinese companies will seek to increase their share of projects in the Kuwaiti market in the coming period, which would create healthy competition and offer fair opportunities for contractors overall. He anticipates that Chinese contractors will gain a larger market share of projects in the Middle East, including Kuwait, in the near future.
The NBK was established in 1952 as the first national bank in Kuwait and the Gulf region. NBK reported profits of 1.8 billion U.S. dollars in 2023, with total assets reaching 122.8 billion dollars by the end of 2023. ■