Saudi Arabia's switch of weekend days to Friday and Saturday from Thursday and Friday will improve the Kingdom's letter of credit (L/C) and other trade finance operations according financial analysts.

Along with the business community in general, they welcome a weekend that aligns Saudi Arabia better with most of the global business and financial world.

Increased overlap

The new weekend will increase the Kingdom's working overlap with international markets, which should boost efficiency and productivity in the region's biggest economy.

Many companies in the Kingdom have already decided to shift their weekends to Friday and Saturday after the official decree at the end of June.

Global integration

According to chief investment strategist at Masic in Saudi Arabia, John Sfakianakis, financial institutions better aligned with the rest of the world will be able to react to events in a timelier manner.

He also points out that banks and their clients will be able to transact globally more quickly.

Making a difference

Sfakianakis reckons the extra day in the commonly used Monday to Friday week will make several differences.

He reckons it should have favourable impacts in terms of pricing, transacting on payments, opening L/Cs and other trade finance operations that were only available for three days per week under the old system.

This article represents the views of the author and not necessarily those of the ICC or any of the other partners in DC-PRO.