CMA affirms importance of updated strategic plan 2021-2023

Logo of the Capital Market Authority (CMA)

The Capital Market Authority (CMA) underlined the importance of its strategic plan 2021-2023, which is part of the Financial Sector Development Program, adding that it will cooperate with its partners to realize the Vision 2030 objectives in this sector.

The updated strategic plan focuses on several priorities, through which the market regulator aims to position the Saudi capital market as the Middle East’s main market and one of the most important financial markets in the world.

The strategy’s objective is to make Tadawul an advanced and attractive market to local and foreign investments, enabling it to play a pivotal role in developing the economy and diversifying its sources of income.

On April 18, 2021, the CMA unveiled its strategic plan 2021-2023.

The strategic plan has four main pillars:

Facilitating Funding: Deepening the capital market, enhancing its role in raising capital, developing the sukuk market and debt instruments, and supporting the growth of alternative financing mechanisms.

Encouraging Investment: Supporting the growth of asset management, enhancing institutional investment, raising the market's attractiveness to the foreign investor, diversifying investment products and mechanisms in the market, in addition to improving trading mechanisms.

Promoting Confidence: Adopting a risk-based supervision methodology and promoting mechanisms for dealing with qualitative violations, enhancing market stability, investor protection and dispute resolution procedures, as well as enhancing governance and transparency for market participants.

Building Capacities: Developing the capabilities of financial market institutions and market infrastructure institutions, raising awareness and financial culture in the market, and facilitating development in data and technology solutions.

The CMA seeks to attract foreign investors, whether in the issuance market or direct market access (DMA), expecting the ratio of foreign investment to market capitalization. It also aims to deepen the market and attract more developing companies through a parallel market full of companies and an efficient main market.

The authority expects the number of listed companies on the main and parallel market to exceed 270.

The CMA worked on developing a number of strategic initiatives to boost participant confidence in the capital market and protect investors, through enhancing governance regulations and transparency levels.

In addition, it strives to double the investment funds so that the asset management volume exceeds SAR 800 billion.