Citigroup Inc. is winning more high-profile deals in the kingdom and quietly plans to compete for more, after quitting Saudi Arabia more than a decade ago.

The New York-based bank holds weekly calls to coordinate the push and has set up a company-wide task force to target opportunities in Saudi Arabia. According to sources, regional Chief Executive Officer Atiq Ur Rehman and Alberto Verme, banking chairman for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, are leading the charge.

The bank won a role as lead adviser on Saudi Arabia’s first international bond sale which indicates that the bank’s efforts may be paying off. The international bond sale could raise at least $10 billion as soon as next month. As the nation undergoes an unprecedented economic shakeup, including plans to create the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund and sell shares of crude giant Saudi Arabia Oil Co. in an initial public offering, Citigroup is keen to profit from a potential fee bonanza.

“Citi’s exit from Saudi put some strain on their activities there, but they have worked hard to get back into the kingdom,” said Emad Mostaque, a London-based strategist at emerging-markets consultancy Ecstrat Ltd.

While Ur Rehman is a Pakistani with more than 30-years experience at Citi who has lead the bank’s efforts in the Middle East since 2010, Verme is a 59-year-old Peruvian native who worked at companies in Madrid and London before joining Salomon Brothers in 1994.

Omar Iqtidar, Citigroup’s investment banking head in the Middle East, said in a May interview in Dubai hat implementing Saudi Arabia’s plans to restructure the economy and privatize assets — known as Vision 2030 — “could translate into a fantastic wallet for the investment banks.”

When it sold its stake in Samba Financial Group in 2004, the lender lost a key banking license. International banks face restrictions on takeovers where the target company is based in the kingdom or on pitching for deals on the ground and working on deals that are signed in Saudi Arabia without a license from the Capital Markets Authority. But along with JPMorgan Chase & Co. and HSBC Holdings Inc., Citigroup beat rivals in June to be hired as one of three global coordinators for the international bond sale despite those hurdles. And in a deal where Saudi Arabia held out the prospect of a role in the subsequent international bond sale to participants, the bank was also among 15 banks that helped raise a $10 billion in loan in April.

“A key part of the new governance regime in Saudi Arabia is looking for results, rather than dwelling on the past. They need their financing to be successful and to attract as much money as possible into the kingdom,” Mostaque said.

As the government is excluded from CMA rules, the U.S. bank was able to pitch for the sovereign bond. From their Dubai or their other global offices, Citigroup can also pitch for international bonds and advisory work for Saudi clients.

(Adapted from Bloomberg)