Riyadh - Sharikat Mubasher: Mizuho Financial Group Inc. has recently obtained a license from the Saudi government to lay its regional headquarters in Riyadh city, and thus becomes the latest Wall Street firm to comply with Saudi Arabia’s diktat to foreign companies to set up their Middle Eastern base there.

According to Bloomberg, the Tokyo-headquartered bank recently received a license from the kingdom’s Ministry of Investment to set up its regional headquarters in the Saudi capital. However, it wasn’t immediately clear how many bankers would move to Saudi Arabia and how much of Mizuho’s regional operations would ultimately be based in the kingdom.

Under the rules that came into force this year, firms must have a regional base in Saudi Arabia with at least 15 employees, including executives overseeing other countries, or risk losing business with the kingdom’s vast network of government entities.

Mizuho stepped up its focus on the Middle East after a $3 billion deal with Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc helped grow its global debt capital markets platform including in the region. More recently, the lender has been expanding aggressively since acquiring investment bank Greenhill & Co. in December.