Attacks in Saudi Arabia prompt finance firms to let staff work from home, sources say

By Reuters News

By Iain Withers

LONDON, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Global finance firms including JPMorgan JPM.N and Deutsche Bank DBKGn.DE are allowing Saudi Arabia-based staff to work from home after a series of Houthi strikes heightened security concerns in the kingdom, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

US investment firm Franklin Templeton BEN.N has temporarily closed its Riyadh office and asked all staff based there to work from home until further notice, one of the people said. No end date has been set for the new working arrangements.

The Saudi government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.

Wall Street bank Citi C.N said earlier this week that it was allowing employees to work from home. "The safety of our employees and the families of our employees have always been our top priority," CFO Gonzalo Luchetti told reporters after an earnings call on Tuesday.

The moves are in response to escalating Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia over the past week, including an attack on the headquarters of oil giant Saudi Aramco 2223.SE on Tuesday and an earlier strike on King Khalid International Airport in ​Riyadh on Saturday.

Both JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank offered staff home working from Sunday, the day after the airport attack, although both offices remain open for business for those who want to use them, two of the people said, with one adding that the flexibility to work from home had been introduced partly to help parents out since the kingdom moved to online schooling this week.

Yemen's Houthis vowed more attacks on airports and oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, describing their attacks as retaliation against Saudi strikes on Yemen in a widening of the conflict ignited by the US-Israeli war against Iran.

The strikes in Saudi Arabia have disrupted the Gulf's busy conference season, which typically runs from September to December to coincide with cooler weather.

Saudi Arabia plans to shift its flagship Future Investment Initiative conference later this month to a hybrid event, giving executives the option to tune in remotely, Reuters has reported.

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