The Kingdom will ease restrictions on foreign investment in its securities markets next month, sooner than previously indicated, in an effort to attract more institutional money into its bourse, the Capital Market Authority (CMA) has said.
Saudi authorities are keen to attract more foreign capital into the Kingdom. The stock market opened to direct investment by foreign institutions in June last year, but all types of foreign investors still own only 1.03 percent of the $390 billion market.
In May, the CMA announced it would ease ownership limits and minimum qualifications for overseas institutions by mid-2017. In its latest statement, it said the reforms would take effect on Sept. 4.
Among the reforms, each asset manager will only need to have a minimum of $1 billion of assets under management globally to qualify as a foreign institutional investor in Saudi Arabia, instead of the current minimum of $5 billion.

Source: Arab News