Barclays doubles down on Saudi Arabia as JPMorgan surrenders its Turkish securities license

Happy FRIDAY, friends. Two western banks moved on the region this week in what look like opposite directions, an Emirati may be about to run for the top job at the UN, and Elon Musk has talked himself into a problem.

Barclays is pressing ahead in Saudi Arabia and the wider region, Asia-Pacific CEO Jaideep Khanna told Bloomberg TV in Singapore. “We are a big believer” in the opportunity, he said, with the bank “growing and investing in our aggregate Middle East presence.” It is seeking a financial services licence for a full platform in the Kingdom, aiming to open a regional headquarters this year, and building out in Turkey alongside that. CEO CS Venkatakrishnan said in April that Barclays was pushing ahead in Saudi, and he was on the FII speaker list before the conference was pushed to next year.

JPMorgan’s Turkish securities unit is surrendering its license, which is tidier than it sounds. JPMorgan Menkul Degerler will halt capital markets activities and give up its intermediary status pending Capital Markets Board approval, according to Bloomberg. The unit has carried out no capital markets activity or provided investment services in Turkey since July 2015, and the firm said cancelling the license brings its legal status in line with that. The Istanbul branch continues to operate.

The brokerage held TRY 67 mn (USD 1.4 mn) of assets at the end of 2025 against an operating loss of about TRY 7 mn (USD 140k), and the filing rules out any connection to current conditions in the market. Those conditions are poor, with the Borsa Istanbul 100 down more than 15% since mid-September on a fund scandal that has frozen half a mn people’s investments and taken some USD 100 bn off the market value of Turkish stocks.

UAE State Minister Lana Nusseibeh is in the race to succeed António Guterres as UN secretary-general after the UAE formally nominated her, the campaign announced, confirming previous reports from the Financial Times. She has taken leave from her government post to campaign. If she gets the seat, she would be the second secretary-general from the Arab world, after Egypt’s Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who held the post from 1992 to 1996. –Salma