Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is a major player in the investment world. Bloomberg’s Erik Schatzer interviews Alwaleed about the current state of Wall Street. I had never listened to an interview with Alwaleed before, and was struck by the common sense of his perspective. And by the irony that he appears to have a better understanding of our system than many in Washington DC.
Some major highlights:
-Alwaleed hopes that the government does not have a vendetta against Goldman Sachs, which would destabilize the financial markets, and cautions that the firm is innocent until proven otherwise.
-Financial reform is a necessity and will happen. Republican opposition to the current bill is part of the negotiating process.
-Citibank’s recently reported earnings of $4.4 billion is proof of the value of its global franchise, and CEO Vikram Pandit has his confidence (Alalweed is a major investor in Citi).
-Alalweed’s Kingdom Holding Company, which went public a few years ago, will soon declare dividends in order to satisfy Saudi retail investors, who carry more clout in their system than institutional investors. (Now that is change one could believe in here!)

