The Saudi banking system will not face any problem in enforcing Basel III regulatory developments and compliance requirements because the Saudi bank components are subject to strict and firm supervision at all times even before the introduction of Basel measures, said Dr. Abdulrahman A. Al-Hamidy, Deputy Governor of the Saudi Arabia Monetary Agency (SAMA), at the “Risk Strategies for Basel III Compliance and Beyond” Symposium held at the Institute of Banking (IOB) in Riyadh Wednesday. He said the forum is taking place at a time when the world's economies are badly affected by the global financial crisis which started in 2007. Al-Hamidy said that despite efforts being exerted by governments, central banks, international financial institutions and regulatory bodies to revitalize the markets and financial institutions in many advanced countries, still the pace of economic recovery is slow. Moreover, he said SAMA always encourages banks to maintain standards excelling those adopted by Basel besides introducing new measures to gauge the durability of the local banks. The symposium, organized by the IOB in cooperation with Moody's Analytics, aims to familiarize participants with the recent Basel III regulatory developments and compliance requirements. It discusses risk management techniques and stress tests, and reflects on significant viewpoints through a selection of expert speakers working in the Saudi and international financial institutions. Standard & Poor's said recently that issuers in the GCC countries face rising refinancing risks over the next three years because the amount of debt maturing in the region will increase significantly between 2012-2014. Industry experts estimate bonds and sukuk of about $25 billion will mature in 2012, rising to about $35 billion in 2014. S&P said the region is facing a challenging loan and bond refinancing cycle.
