Financial authorities in Saudi Arabia and the UAE on Saturday downplayed the impact of Britain’s vote to leave the European Union on their banks.
Authorities in both countries, whose currencies are pegged to the US dollar, said they were keeping an eye on the impact of the Brexit vote, but that their banks’ exposure is limited.
Ahmed Al-Kholifey, governor of Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, said that the Kingdom had already “revised its investment policy regarding assets denominated in euro and sterling pounds” ahead of Thursday’s historic vote.
“It is early to assess the impact of the UK exit from the EU... but we expect the impact on the banking sector to be minimal due to its limited exposure to those two currencies,” he said, quoted by the Saudi Press Agency.
The UAE’s central bank said: “Due to the limited connection between the UAE financial system and that of the UK, the channels through which financial institutions in the UAE could be affected by the state of uncertainty over relations between the UK and the EU are limited.”
In a statement carried by the WAM news agency, the central bank said it will “continue to watch developments... mainly those that could affect the UAE economy.”
Britain’s shock vote to pull out of the European Union wiped $2.1 trillion from global equity markets Friday as traders panicked in the face of a new threat to the global economy.

Source: Arab News