Finance Ministry, NDMC appoint 5 international banks as primary dealers in government’s local debt instruments

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The Ministry of Finance and the National Debt Management Center (NDMC) signed agreements with BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Standard Chartered Bank to appoint them as primary dealers in the government's local debt instruments.

These banks will join the local financial institutions that are part of the Primary Dealers’ Program, which includes Saudi National Bank (SNB), Saudi British Bank (SABB), Bank AlJazira, Alinma Bank and Al Rajhi Bank, NDMC said in a statement.

The center also explained that these agreements come as an affirmation of NDMC’s role in enhancing access to local debt markets by diversifying the investor base in order to ensure sustainable access and support the development of the secondary market.

The applications for subscription to the primary market for local government debt instruments are submitted to the NDMC through the primary dealers who have been contracted on a scheduled monthly basis, after they receive applications from investors.

In this context, Minister of Finance Mohammed Al-Jadaan said that these agreements are a continuation of the development work taken towards achieving Vision 2030 objectives under the umbrella of the Financial Sector Development Program.

This is primarily achieved through cooperation between relevant entities to develop the infrastructure of the local debt market and increase the liquidity of the government's local debt instruments by attracting more capital from foreign investors.

This is in addition to enabling primary dealers and market participants to play their roles in providing appropriate tools.