2020 Kickoff Convening
We are grateful for the sincere, honest and hopeful engagement of everyone who joined us in February! 49 individuals from 43 organizations met to kick off the Nature Based Education Consortium's work in 2020. We shared about our needs and aspirations for the Consortium's work, and shared new ideas for how to amplify our collective impact. Read below for notes and summaries of the event.


Participants came wearing many different hats! A wide range of sectors were represented, though there were certainly some prevailing themes in who was at the table.

Here's what participants had to say

Participants told us about their priorities for the work of the Consortium. In individual and organizational reflections, attendees shared about how they think NBEC could help them achieve their goals and looked forward to the changes they hope to see occurring as a result of our collective work. This graph summarizes the common themes in attendees' hopes and aspirations.
Group Discussion Notes
Why are the banks merging?
The proposed merger will unlock considerable synergies and growth potential to maximize value for all stakeholders:
It will create a new Saudi banking champion which will be a regional powerhouse in the consolidating Saudi and MENA banking landscape. It will be the number one bank in Saudi Arabia serving approximately 25% of the retail and wholesale banking market with aggregated SAR 837 billion ($223 billion) assets. For more information, please download the media FAQs.
What is your outlook and strategy for the combined bank?
Accelerate growth in retail by increasing the product penetration across the combined client base through delivering best-in-class innovative propositions, foster SMEs development and lending, growing residential financing and promoting financial literacy. Strengthen leadership in wholesale by supporting the Kingdom’s landmark deals and mega projects, increase presence in treasury and capital markets, as well as facilitating trade and capital flows in and out of Saudi Arabia into global markets. For more information, please download the media FAQs.
How does this merger align with the objectives of Vision 2030?
What are the expected synergies from the merger?
The merger is expected to result in SAR 800 million ($213 million) cost synergies through economies of scale and enhanced productivity and sharing of best practices. Cost synergies would represent ~9% of the combined banks. Additionally, there exists a high potential for revenue synergies through leveraging best practices across both organizations to boost product cross-sell in Retail and Wholesale, improve operating model and sales and optimize investment portfolio. For more information, please download the media FAQs.
With all the economic uncertainty and slow growth, was this a wise decision?
How to get involved
As the convening wrapped up, participants were invited to join the network by taking on some specific roles. If you didn't make it to the Kickoff Convening, you can still get involved! Just click the button below to join the effort.
