WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- President Bush has nominated a banker with experience in Arab nations but no diplomatic service to be U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia.
Ford Fraker, currently chairman of Trinity Group, a London-based $2.5 billion private investment banking firm, was named by the White House in a statement Monday.
Fraker, also a consultant to the Intercontinental Real Estate Corp., had earlier been head of banking for the Saudi International Bank, according to the statement.
A Harvard BA, Fraker set up a number of Chemical Bank offices in the Middle East during the 1970's, according to a biography on the Intercontinental Real Estate Corp. Web site.
He has a long business history in Britain and worked for three years with a Dutch merchant bank in the 1990's, according to the biography.
Trinity Group, which Fraker co-founded with Edward Frazer, was chaired by Sir Ian McGregor, the close ally of then-British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and the chairman of British Coal and British Steel, until his death in 1993, according to the company's Web site.
Saudi Arabia is emerging as a key U.S. ally against Iran. The Saudis are alarmed by the Iranian determination to push ahead with its nuclear development program.
