Muhammad bin Abdullah Al-Quwaiz, Chairman of the Board of the Capital Market Authority, affirmed that the Authority's previous strategies have achieved many ambitious goals, and have contributed to making the Saudi financial market one of the ten largest markets in the world today, and the recently published strategy (2024-2026) comes to complete this journey by strengthening the role of the financial market for financing and the economy in general.
He added that one of the most important aspects we have focused on in our modern strategy is to build a vibrant debt market, develop the asset management industry to compete globally, attract more investments into the national economy, and support the stock market and financial technology sectors to become leaders in the region.
He added that while over the past period we have seen a steady increase in the frequency of penalties for violators and compensation for those affected, it is now time to allocate a separate axis in our modern strategy to investor protection, as trust is one of the most important components of a successful marketplace, and protection of rights and funds is one of the most important guarantees that investors and participants in the financial market need.
On September 12, 2024, the Capital Market Authority announced the adoption of the Strategic Plan (2024-2026), which is based on 3 main pillars and includes 9 strategic objectives, where the first pillar is related to activating the role of the financial market in financing and investment by enhancing the role of the stock market and property rights in finance, while the second pillar aims to support and empower financial market institutions and support financial technology in the financial sector. The third pillar is related to protecting investors' rights by increasing the level of transparency and supervision, facilitating compensation methods, and enhancing the effectiveness of mechanisms and redressal to deal with specific issues.
The strategy consists of over 40 initiatives, including: improving the regulatory framework for offering and listing in the financial market, developing regulatory requirements for investment funds, attracting international investors to invest in the Saudi financial market, enabling the application of open finance within the financial market, developing corporate governance regulation, developing class action compensation.
It is noteworthy that the Authority's strategic plan for the years (2021-2023) saw many achievements, the most prominent of which was the increase in the pace of offerings and listings in the Saudi financial market, with the number of listed companies by the end of the year 2023 A.D. crossing the barrier of 310 companies, compared to 204 companies in 2019 A.D., an increase of 52%. In addition to the unprecedented growth in the asset management industry; its value increased from 500 billion riyals locally in 2019 to 871 billion riyals in 2023, the total international investments in various asset classes (stocks, instruments, debt instruments and investment funds) in the financial market also saw a historic increase, reaching more than 480 billion riyals by the end of the year 2023 A.D., compared to 259 billion riyals in 2019, with a growth rate of 88%.