ADVOCACY: Banque Saudi Fransi: Funding development
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G20 Issue

ADVOCACY: Banque Saudi Fransi: Funding development

Rayan Fayez

Economic growth and development rely on a quality infrastructure base, and Banque Saudi Fransi is taking a central role in supporting the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s work in this area

What are the major challenges hampering the growth of investments in infrastructure projects?
As you may be aware, the B20 Saudi Arabia through the Finance and Infrastructure Taskforce has focused on this topic as part of the work it has done this past year. We singled out sustainable infrastructure as the key area of focus and not all infrastructure. It is important to recognise technology and data-driven innovation in the financial sector and increasing the contribution of the financial sector to encourage economic growth and mitigate systemic risks. How is Banque Saudi Fransi contributing in its own work as a major infrastructure financing institution? As one of the leading corporate banks in the Kingdom, we are proud to have invested heavily in our structured and project finance capabilities. Over the years we have pioneered and led the way with new products and structures in this field. This has positioned us well to capture the upcoming opportunities in infrastructure finance, as well as financing the major giga projects in the Kingdom as part of Vision 2030. There will soon be an announcement of our role in various multi-billion riyal projects. These are all exciting projects that are well supported by a huge market opportunity, a well capitalised shareholder base and strong private sector participation. the importance sustainability plays in infrastructure projects going forwards. We then looked at the challenges associated with financing sustainable infrastructure projects and we were able to identify three main challenges. Private sector investment is hampered by a lack of robust pipelines with investment-ready projects, higher investment cost requirements and fragmented sustainability risk-assessment frameworks.

How is the Business 20 Finance and Infrastructure Taskforce working to overcome these challenges, including through the recommendations it has produced for the G20 leaders for their Riyadh Summit?
With regard to supporting sustainable infrastructure, our recommendation is for the G20 to encourage the increase of private financing in sustainable infrastructure by creating more investment-ready projects, mitigating the risk of higher costs for sustainable projects and fostering a collaborative environment for sustainable risk assessments.

In addition, we had multiple policy recommendations around the three other priority themes of our task force, namely: promoting sustainable finance that incorporates ESG factors, accelerating technology and data-driven innovation in the financial sector and increasing the contribution of the financial sector to encourage economic growth and mitigate systemic risks.

How is Banque Saudi Fransi contributing in its own work as a major infrastructure financing institution?
As one of the leading corporate banks in the Kingdom, we are proud to have invested heavily in our structured and project finance capabilities. Over the years we have pioneered and led the way with new products and structures in this field. This has positioned us well to capture the upcoming opportunities in infrastructure finance, as well as financing the major giga projects in the Kingdom as part of Vision 2030. There will soon be an announcement of our role in various multi-billion riyal projects. These are all exciting projects that are well supported by a huge market opportunity, a well capitalised shareholder base and strong private sector participation.