Top bankers quietly prepare for Saudi forum, without bosses in attendance

The conference, expected to be the stage for announcing new ventures and billion-dollar contracts, has been overshadowed by the disappearance of a dissident Saudi journalist

In public, finance industry leaders have bailed on a key Saudi Arabian investment conference next week. Behind the scenes, dealmakers bringing in the hard cash are fretting -- and still going.

Senior investment bankers from HSBC Holdings Plc, Societe Generale SA and Credit Suisse Group AG are planning to attend the Future Investment Initiative -- dubbed “Davos in the Desert” -- even though their chief executives have told the world they’ve canceled appearances there.

Wall Street firms such as Morgan Stanley and Citigroup Inc., which have yet to publicly signal their intentions, are also expecting to send executives, people familiar with the