On Wednesday March 28, 2018, The Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) was pleased to highlight the announcement by FTSE Russel noting that Tadawul will be classified as a “Secondary Emerging” market in the FTSE Global Equity Index Series, moving up from its previous status as “Unclassified”. This decision followed a series of market enhancements introduced by Tadawul and the Capital Market Authority (CMA) over the past two years. These developments have fulfilled market quality criteria set by the FTSE Russell that are requisite to classify a market as Emerging.

His Excellency Mohammed El-Kuwaiz, Chairman of CMA commented: “CMA continues to develop the Saudi capital market and to facilitate investments in order to enhance the Capital Market’s efficiency, as well as, promote its regional and international competitiveness." Mr. El-Kuwaiz added: “This achievement is in line with the Financial Sector Development Program which is part of the Saudi Vision 2030 and reflects the efforts of both CMA and Tadawul.”

“Over the past year, Tadawul has continued to work closely with Saudi government bodies and leading emerging market investors to introduce capital market reforms to bolster the effectiveness of the market and foster an attractive investment climate for local and international investors,” said Sarah Al Suhaimi, Chairperson of Tadawul. “We are proud that all these efforts have gained Tadawul inclusion in one of the most preeminent global indices to be benchmarked.”

“FTSE’s announcement today is significant for Tadawul in that it indicates growing investor confidence in the Saudi capital market and recognition that we are among the largest and most liquid emerging markets in the world,” said Khalid Al Hussan, Chief Executive Officer of Tadawul. “Guided by Vision 2030, we remain steadfast in our commitment to the reforms already introduced and in the pipeline so that we may continue to grow investor confidence worldwide and further strengthen the Saudi market.”