Saudi Arabia Shifts Flagship FII Conference to Hybrid Format After Riyadh Attack

The shift to a hybrid format is a signal about how security risk is now being priced into the Gulf's flagship dealmaking calendar: the event's value has always been physical proximity, and remote attendance dilutes precisely that. The workaround routing — landing outside Riyadh or in neighboring Gulf states and driving in — matters because it keeps the conference alive while conceding that the capital's airport is no longer a neutral gateway. Whether that compromise holds through the event, and whether it becomes a template for other Gulf gatherings, is the open question.