Capital Markets
From The Report: Saudi Arabia 2020
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Recent and ongoing reforms of Saudi Arabia’s capital markets have seen the Kingdom gradually liberalise its investment framework and overhaul the operations of the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) – the largest exchange in the GCC by market capitalisation. Looking to initial public offerings, the state’s privatisation programme – a central component of Saudi Vision 2030 – is likely to generate further activity over the medium term. Targeted sectors include the environment, water and agriculture, transport, energy, housing, education and health. However, the timetable of the privatisation programme, as well as the movement of the Tadawul’s main index, is likely to be adversely impacted by the Covid-19 outbreak that is expected to upend global markets far into 2020. This chapter contains interviews with Khalid Al Hussan, CEO, Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul); and Rajiv Shukla, CEO, HSBC Saudi Arabia.

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Major player: Ongoing efforts form part of a national strategy to boost the Kingdom’s standing as a regional and global financial centre
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Recent and ongoing reforms of Saudi Arabia’s capital markets have seen the Kingdom gradually liberalise its investment framework and overhaul the operations of the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) – the largest exchange in the GCC by market capitalisation. These efforts were rewarded in 2017 when MSCI added Saudi Arabia to its Emerging Markets Index watch list, and again in June 2018 when the Kingdom was upgraded to emerging market status. This marked the fastest progression from watch list…

Interview

On the world stage: Khalid Al Hussan, CEO, Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul), on the new products designed to encourage foreign participation
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Interview:Khalid Al Hussan In terms of trade volumes, how has Saudi Aramco’s initial public offering (IPO) affected the market? KHALID AL HUSSAN: The Saudi Aramco listing marked a significant milestone in the history of the Kingdom’s capital market and bolstered our position among international stock exchanges, with Tadawul becoming one of the top-10 largest stock exchanges in the world by market capitalisation. Being chosen as the venue for the largest IPO in history was a great source…

Interview

Centre of attention: Rajiv Shukla, CEO, HSBC Saudi Arabia, on the Kingdom’s strong credit profile and attractive yields
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Interview:Rajiv Shukla In what ways will futures and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) help broaden investors’ exposure? RAJIV SHUKLA: ETFs are an increasingly popular way of investing globally. Assets under management (AUM) for US-based ETFs passed $4trn in 2019. The growth of ETFs has been much more pronounced in recent years, with net flows of over $1trn since 2018 as compared to the eight years it took for the AUM to reach $1trn in assets. In Saudi Arabia ETFs have also been slow to garner…