The Scoop
Saudi Arabia has canceled in-person attendance at its flagship investment conference in Riyadh after Wall Street executives privately relayed safety concerns to organizers, including the boss of the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, people familiar with the matter said.
Organizers of the Future Investment Initiative, due to take place next week, have dropped plans for a gathering of global and regional chief executives, and are telling delegates the event is postponed until 2027, the people said, confirming a Semafor story that a decision to postpone would be made today.
The conference, which has become informally known as ‘Davos in the Desert,’ is Saudi Arabia’s highest profile event, attended by some of the biggest names in global finance and business. Next week’s edition had been set to host JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, and BlackRock CEO Larry Fink.
Big banks and private equity firms had been privately relaying safety concerns about attending FII to Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Semafor reported earlier, according to people familiar with the matter.
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Multiple signals suggested FII could be postponed: Rooms at the Ritz Carlton in Riyadh, which is usually blocked for the event, have been available for public booking in the past 24 hours. Other scheduled events such as an exhibition tennis tournament, a charity event linked to the crown prince, and Riyadh Fashion Week have all been postponed after the Houthis escalated attacks on the kingdom.
Delaying the conference is not surprising as the airport appears to still be closed, the main business district has instructed tenants to work from home until further notice, and schools have also shifted to home learning.
The kingdom, and its neighbors like the UAE and Qatar, have pitched themselves as not just sources of capital, but as a safe home for trillions in financial assets, data centers, and new industries.
Speculation has swirled in recent weeks over whether Saudi Arabia would go forward with the event, given high-profile attacks on the Riyadh airport. Organizers have held discussions around allowing overseas executives to participate virtually, Reuters reported last week, and The Wall Street Journal said that some executives had already canceled meetings.
The US, along with most other Western governments, recommends against all but essential travel to Saudi Arabia. That has knock-on effects on travel insurance costs and advice from internal security and risk teams.
Still, Saudi Arabia has viewed attendance at the event, and general support for the Gulf during turbulent times, as a loyalty test for global business leaders. Those who show up in tough times are rewarded, while fair-weather friends are often excluded from lucrative deals.
Notable
- Repeated attacks on Saudi Arabian civilian facilities have dented confidence in the kingdom’s ability to remain relatively immune to the US-Iran war, Semafor reported.
This story has been updated to reflect FII’s decision to cancel the in-person meeting.