Increasing Saudi Arabia’s attractiveness as an investment destination is a broad effort, involving a number of government entities and alterations to the regulatory frameworks. Almost all of the ministry-level strategies found in the National Transformation Programme (NTP) 2020 have a bearing on the issue of investment, and their success will...
Subdued oil prices deflated investor sentiment across the GCC throughout most of 2017. However, mid-2017 brought some encouraging developments: news of a possible MSCI reclassification resulted in a spike in the main index of the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) in the summer of 2017. In 2016 the government launched the National Transformation...
Despite the effects of lower international oil prices placing downward pressure on sector profitability, Saudi Arabia’s banks have succeeded in expanding their assets over the past year. While the trend of lower profits is likely to prevail over the medium term, the Kingdom’s banks are well positioned to capitalise on the growth opportunities...
Although Saudi Arabia has the largest insurance market in the GCC by far, its life segment remains underdeveloped. However, the years ahead may see greater focus on the line. Once life insurance begins to take off it should yield impressive results, as the Kingdom has both the volume and the wealth to be a good fit for this type of coverage....
Building on decades of experience, Saudi Arabia’s mutual fund segment continues to flourish, while opportunities are opening up for private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC), both of which are gaining increasingly strong government backing. Dealmaking is expected to continue accelerating in 2018 as investors seek new opportunities and exit...
The year 2017 has seen a welcome recuperation in the liquidity position of the banking sector. In October 2017 the Saudi Arabia Interbank Offered Rate (SAIBOR) stood at 1.79%, a considerable improvement on the 2.39% that was reached in the same month of 2016. The interbank rate has been below 2% since February 2017, suggesting the liquidity...
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