Saudi Arabia Capital Markets Reform 2026: Why Riyadh Is Racing to Open Up

Saudi Arabia moved on three fronts of its capital markets in a single week. The Saudi Exchange waived a year of derivatives fees, a new regulator chief revived talk of a higher foreign ownership cap, and BNP Paribas became the latest global bank to plant its regional flag in Riyadh. Together, the moves mark one of the busiest stretches yet in the kingdom’s push to deepen its capital markets and pull in foreign money.

The Derivatives Push

Saudi Exchange and Muqassa rolled out a package of structural changes to the derivatives market effective August 19, according to an official Saudi Exchange release. The changes cover MT30 Index Futures and Single Stock Futures on five heavyweight names: Saudi Aramco, stc, Ma’aden, Saudi National Bank and Al Rajhi Bank.

The headline change is a one-year waiver on futures transaction and final settlement fees, paired with reduced trading, clearing and regulatory fees more broadly. Muqassa also waived fees on additional segregated accounts and give-up and take-up services, and rolled out a new public margin calculator alongside an optimized margin framework for single stock futures.

To back the push, Saudi Exchange signed market-maker agreements covering all six futures contracts. SNB Capital signed on behalf of itself and five other firms, Corvus, Binevenagh, BLS Futures, Eighteen Eight Solutions and MET Traders, a sign the exchange wants deeper liquidity before it leans harder on derivatives as a growth lever.

A New Face at the Top of the Regulator

The derivatives overhaul landed days after a bigger structural shift. King Salman issued a royal decree on August 13 removing Mohammed bin Abdullah ElKuwaiz, the Capital Market Authority’s chairman since 2017, and replacing him with Mazen bin Turki Al-Sudairi, previously head of research at Al Rajhi Capital and an advisor to the Saudi Cabinet’s General Secretariat.

The change has revived investor speculation that Riyadh could raise the foreign ownership cap on listed Saudi companies, currently capped well below full openness. Morgan Stanley analysts estimate a move to 75 percent foreign ownership could draw an estimated $4.3 billion in inflows, rising to roughly $7.4 billion if restrictions were removed entirely. That figure is an analyst projection rather than an official CMA number, but it underscores what is at stake.

Timing matters here. Any change to ownership rules would need to land before MSCI’s October price cutoff to count toward the index provider’s November review, the kind of deadline that tends to concentrate minds inside a regulator.

Foreign Banks Keep Choosing Riyadh

BNP Paribas added its name to the growing list of global banks setting up regional headquarters in the kingdom. Saudi Arabia’s investment minister, Fahad bin Abduljalil Al-Saif, met BNP Paribas chairman Jean Lemierre in Paris to confirm the registration, part of Riyadh’s push to deepen financial ties with France.

BNP Paribas joins Deutsche Bank, which secured its license in July, alongside Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, under a regional headquarters program that launched in 2021 and has now attracted more than 750 companies against a target of 500 by 2030. For global lenders, a Riyadh headquarters is increasingly a baseline requirement for doing meaningful business with Saudi government entities, which since 2024 have required RHQ status to award major contracts.

Why It Matters for Investors

None of these three moves is dramatic on its own. Fee waivers, a leadership change and another bank’s headquarters license would barely register in isolation. Together, though, they read as a coordinated signal that Saudi Arabia wants deeper, more liquid capital markets before the MSCI window closes and before global capital gets harder to attract amid regional uncertainty.

For fund managers and multinational treasurers, the practical takeaway is to watch the CMA’s next moves on ownership limits closely, since a decision could arrive with little warning given the MSCI deadline. For banks weighing a Gulf presence, the message from BNP Paribas’ move is that a Riyadh address is becoming table stakes rather than a nice-to-have.

The Saudi Arabia capital markets reform drive is still unfolding, and the real test will be whether the ownership cap actually moves before October. If it does, this week’s derivatives fee waivers and BNP Paribas’ new license will look like the opening act rather than the whole story.

Curious how this fits into the wider Gulf debt picture? Read our coverage of UAE bond sales hitting a record pace in 2026.

Sources: Saudi Exchange, Argaam, AGBI, Zawya, Enterprise AM, Arab News.