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After nearly two years out of the limelight, former Saudi ambassador to Washington Prince Bandar Bin Sultan Al-Saud made a high-profile return to the Kingdom in mid-October. Several senior princes met him at the airport, including General Intelligence Directorate chief Prince Miqrin Bin Abdelaziz, assistant defence minister Prince Khalid Bin Sultan, assistant interior minister Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef, state minister and head of the Cabinet Presidency Court Prince Abdelaziz Bin Fahd, Prince Faisal Bin Khalid Bin Sultan (adviser to his uncle, Crown Prince Sultan) and National Security Council assistantsecretary-general Prince Salman Bin Sultan.

Assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs Andrew Shapiro has confirmed that the Obama administration has asked Congress to approve a $60bn arms deal with the Kingdom (GSN 886/6). The 20-year deal involves the sale of 84 Boeing F-15 fighter jets and an upgrade

The fallout from the dispute between two major Saudi business families continues to concern creditors, regional banks and international monetary authorities. Conventional wisdom has it that issues surrounding the Al-Gosaibi/Maan Al-Sanea defaults will be resolved by the authorities. But the Saudi system’s slow public response to the situation was undermining confidence even before international courts got involved

Sky Petroleum board, Diplomatic meetings, Receives brothers, Cooperation with China, Marriages

The Serious Fraud Office is to crack down on companies that offer inducements or ‘kickbacks’ to foreign governments in return for preferential treatment. The move is a result of a new Bribery Act drawn up by the former Labour government after the SFO abandoned an enquiry into BAE Systems’ £43bn Al-Yamamah arms deals with Saudi Arabia.

The House Financial Services Committee hearing A Review of Current and Evolving Trends in Terrorism Financing took place on 28 September. Among the four witnesses was Eric Lewis, a partner in Washington-based law firm Baach Robinson Lewis, who is representing Ahmed Hamad Al-Gosaibi and Brothers (AHAB). The hearing looked at the dispute between AHAB and Maan Al-Sanea, and the movement of $1trn of funds between Middle East financial institutions and US banks since 11 September 2001.

Merrill Lynch Saudi Arabia has appointed Motashar Almurshed as chief executive.

Moody’s Investors Service on 1 October assigned a provisional rating of A1 to the Saudi riyal-denominated senior unsecured bonds that Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation plans to issue soon, in Apicorp’s first foray into the capital markets.

Projects such as King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) and the new financial city north of Riyadh have been proposed as one solution to make it easier for foreign investors and banks to operate in King Abdullah Bin Abdelaziz’s Kingdom than his father, Saudi Arabia’s founder King Abdelaziz Bin Abdelrahman (Ibn Saud), apparently intended.

Commitments by the United States to strengthen its Gulf allies have been confirmed with the public agreement of a multi-billion dollar defence deal intended to shift the balance of power from tipping into Iran’s favour, while allowing the US to safely reduce its boots-on-the-ground military presence in the region and create jobs at home

Nabucco keen to secure gas for Europe, Trains 6 and 7 LNG spoken for, Sabic opens new office in Cape Town

The collapse of companies owned by the Al-Gosaibi family and Maan Al-Sanea continues to cause concern across the region and beyond. Arab bankers believe that more big Gulf family groups could come under pressure from the fallout of the global financial crisis and their exposure to the Saudi businesses collapse.

Pakistan, In his father’s footsteps, Returns home after treatment, Regional UN meeting, China visit, US/Canadian security meetings, Dinner in New York

A number of new reports on Saudi banks point to a system that is stable and growing, reflecting the sector’s resilience and strong financial fundamentals in the face of challenging operating conditions, as Moody’s Investors Service put it. Some players who talked to GSN were less upbeat, pointing to slow-moving business and a continued hangover from the crisis that built up over the Saad and Al-Gosaibi groups’ failure – a crisis that quietly continues to affect business across the region.

Saudi Aramco made headlines at the mid-September World Energy Congress (WEC) in Montreal with president and chief executive Khalid Al-Falih telling delegates and interviewers the giant national oil company planned to counter fast-rising demand for feedstocks for power and industry by developing the Kingdom’s potentially huge non-conventional gas reserves.