It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Ahmad Hamad Algosaibi & Brothers Company is one of the oldest and most respected family-owned conglomerates in Saudi Arabia. It was a group that could borrow on reputation alone, with a son of its founder on Forbes’ world rich list.

Riyadh, capital of Saudi Arabia. Questions are being asked about the exposure banks in the oil-rich state may have with family owned companies hit by the downturn

But since one of its wholly owned subsidiaries, The International Banking Corporation (TIBC), defaulted on financial obligations to other banks this month it has sent jitters across the market.