This morning colleagues from ISLA, ICMA and ISDA along with the Saudi Tadawul Group, finally welcomed nearly 200 market participants to the Four Seasons hotel in Riyadh for the first ever joint association conference in the Middle East!
Taking place during the Saudi Capital Markets Forum, this event will bring together industry leaders and senior policymakers to share their insights on the rapid evolution of Saudi Arabia’s capital markets and the opportunities this presents for global investors and market participants.
The morning opened with a welcome from each Association’s CEO Bryan Pascoe, Scott O’Malia and Andrew Dyson as well as Muqassa CEO, Wael Abdullah Al-Hazzani. The session outlined the overall purpose of the day, namely the exchange of knowledge and experience on the importance of repo, derivatives and securities lending to secondary market liquidity and thus, the long-term growth and prosperity of the Saudi Capital Market.
Our event Keynote, Dana Aljarbou then provided more context by posing the question, ‘Why now’ for the Kingdom. With a young, upwardly mobile and educated population, an eagerness to develop global competitiveness with a local flavour and a long term 2030 vision, the answer to that question has never been clearer.
The first fireside chat brought together key Saudi government institutions – SAMA and the CMA – represented by His Excellency Yazeed Al-Nafjan and Fahad Bin Hamdan to explore both the current landscape of the Kingdom’s repo markets as well as the development of derivatives and securities lending, including the role of market-making in enhancing liquidity, and the expansion of ETFs.
The morning was closed out with a panel discussion moderated by ISLA’s Andrew Dyson, bringing together, Mohammed Al Rumaih, Chief Executive Officer, Saudi Exchange, Wael Al-Hazzani, Chief Executive Officer, Securities Clearing Center Company ‘Muqassa’ and Hanan Alshehri, Chief Executive Officer, Securities Depository Center Company (Edaa), to discuss the pace of change across market infrastructure as well as some of the key characteristics of the market which make it so attractive to foreign business and investors.
The afternoon was opened by ICMA CEO, Bryan Pascoe, who moderated a session on the shape & structure of the primary debt market. Bryan was joined by Mohammed Albensaleh, Head of Debt Financing, Al-Rajhi Capital, Mohammad AlFaadhel, Assistant Deputy for Financing, CMA, Muhannad Mufti, Chief of Portfolio Management, NDMC & Mohammed Sharaf, Treasury Director, Islamic Development Bank. All shared their insights on the variety of debt instruments, including sustainable bonds, the link between Islamic and conventional bond markets, while also exploring the role of repo and securities lending in the secondary market.
ISDA CEO Scott O’Malia then dived further into the trends shaping the market. Scott was joined by Sarah Al Othman, Managing Director, Riyad Capital, Johanne Armita Vara, Managing Director, Goldman Sachs, Adnan Hussain, ISLA Board Member, Managing Director, HSBC Securities Services, Gesa Johannsen, ISDA Board Member, Managing Director, BNY & Esra Turk, ISDA Board Member, Head of CEEMEA Institutional Client Group, Deutsche Bank. With everything from new supply sources, emerging regulatory requirements, and the need for collaboration between onshore and offshore players discussed, one key takeaway was the need to ‘learn from global best practices whilst leveraging local talent.’
The final sessions of the day saw each association host a product-specific session to exchange knowledge on how each market operates and the operational, structural, and regulatory themes shaping their growth.
In the securities lending session, ISLA’s Tina Baker hosted ISLA Board Chair, Ina Budh-Raja, ISLA Board Member Patrick Archenhold, Jala Faruki, Head of Custody & Securities Services, SNB Capital and Dean Naumowicz, Partner, Latham & Watkins. Building on the work of ISLA’s recent guide for Saudi Arabia, the panel discussed the benefits of securities lending to the wider capital markets infrastructure as well the steady growth of the business and increase in market participants.
Looking to the future, one development all sessions referenced was the recent netting legislation published by SAMA. Published less than a week ago, this signals an important step forward for the expansion of the capital markets and highlights the timeliness of today’s event.
ISLA is hugely optimistic on the outlook for securities lending in the Kingdom and the Middle East, and we will be returning in 2026.
