RIYADH: JPMorgan Chase & Co, one of the largest banks in the US, is set to add an additional 20 people for its operations in Saudi Arabia by the end of the year, as it looks to tap into one of the world"s few bright spots for equity capital markets, Bloomberg reported. The bank will have doubled the size of its Saudi operations by the end of the year, compared to 2016, Bader Al-Amoudi, JPMorgan’s senior country officer said. It will be hiring across investment banking, local custody, client services and back office staff, he added. “We see a very strong pipeline of deals coming up across M&A and IPOs. There’s still a lot of interest from local companies to list and from foreign investors looking to get exposure to the Saudi market,” Al-Amoudi said. JPMorgan chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon is set to arrive in Riyadh this week to attend Saudi Arabia’s flagship investment conference, dubbed Davos in the Desert. US bankers have been expanding their presence in Saudi Arabia to tap into new opportunities emanating from the opening of the economy as the oil-reach Kingdom is looking to diversify into other sectors. Saudi Arabia, which owns one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, is selling off state-owned assets to attract investors, helping it to become one of the hotspots for initial public offerings in the world. “Competition has definitely increased but we’ve been here for the long term and will continue to invest to serve our clients and bring new products and offerings to Saudi Arabia,” Alamoudi said.