RIYADH: SNB Capital, which joined the Saudi Stock Exchange’s market-making structure on February 12, considers it an important step to ensure a good level of liquidity in the Kingdom’s market, according to a top official.
Speaking exclusively to Arab News on the sidelines of the Capital Market Forum in Riyadh on Monday, Loi Bafakih, Head of Securities at SNB Capital, said that Saudi Arabia’s equity market is going in the right direction, and one of the best markets in the world. will emerge as Globally.
“At SNB Capital, we believe we need to stay ahead of the game. Market making is extremely important to ensure a good level of liquidity when it comes to equities or derivatives.”
He added: “I believe we were one of the few that signed (a market making deal with the Saudi exchange) and the only one that would offer both the equity portion and derivatives. And, we believe that the opportunity to gain this type of liquidity on derivatives will be even more significant.
In addition to SNB Capital, Al Rajhi Capital, and Riyadh Capital also joined the market-making framework, an initiative that was launched in December 2022 to help ensure liquidity and increase pricing efficiency.
“At SNB Capital, I think the unique offering that we will have is market making on your terms, ie if you want us to do market making for you, we will be able to do that. If you want to manage that Want to know how you are going to place the order, we can enable it for you.Also, we can work with third parties that we can assign to make the market, if the customer prefers, ” They said.
Bafkih said that market making does not affect the price of the stock, as it just “provides liquidity for people to receive and exit or adjust their positions on holdings.”
He added that Saudi Arabia’s equity market is headed in the right direction, driven by a regulatory framework and a healthy technology platform.
“We are encouraging more international visitors to come to the Saudi market. And as a sign of this, you see the international contribution in terms of value traded in Saudi Arabia has gone up by 5 percent in the last three or four months. increased to 20 percent. This is a clear indication that we are on the right track internationally.”
Bafiqah said the Saudi market will see more initial public offerings in the future and added that both the equity and fixed-income markets will see rapid growth in the Kingdom.
He commended the Capital Markets Authority of Saudi Arabia for providing a proper regulatory framework to help the capital and equity markets grow and prosper.
“Honestly, I think we are extremely fortunate. With CMA, we see them looking at all the other opportunities we have to offer. We want the market to be one of the most developed in three years. Ho and we are taking bold steps in this direction. So, we see the CMA playing a huge role, which is extremely important for us to enable this opportunity,” Bafiqah said.
The official further added that technology is helping SNB Capital offer more products and services.
“I would say technology is helping us. For example, we are the only capital (firm) offering a mobile application that gives you access to equity markets, Sukuk and bonds and mutual funds on top of that, he concluded.