Riyadh’s new financial hub sheds reputation as costly failure

Riyadh’s King Abdullah Financial District is picking up traction as its gleaming new office towers are increasingly populated by international law firms, investment banks, private equity funds and multinational corporations.

The growing success and new cachet of KAFD contrasts with close to two decades in which the original $10 billion project was filled with near-empty buildings and seen as a glaring failure, the Financial Times reports.

Now, after nearly a decade of false starts, KAFD is finally filling up as Saudi Arabia accelerates efforts to rival Dubai and Abu Dhabi as the Middle East’s financial capital, the FT writes.

The Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, has moved into Riyadh’s tallest tower while corporate giants such as HSBC and Accenture have set up offices.

Many of the new corporate tenants have come because of the law Saudi Arabia enacted that required companies to establish headquarters in the kingdom as a prerequisite for winning government contracts.

These days, cafés have started to line the central pedestrian zone, construction workers are completing skywalks to shield pedestrians from the desert heat, and a diverse crowd of Saudis and expatriates mingle in the once-deserted complex, the FT reports.