The Capital Market Authority (CMA) has issued its 2025 Annual Report, which highlights the CMA's continued efforts to stimulate financing and investment, empower the capital market ecosystem, and enhance investor protection and awareness. These efforts resulted in unprecedented record figures across various developmental, regulatory, and legislative aspects, reinforcing the standing of the Saudi capital market and its attractiveness to local and international investors.
According to the CMA's 2025 Annual Report, assets under management in the Kingdom recorded significant leaps, growing by 18% to exceed SAR 1.2 trillion by year-end. This growth was accompanied by a 53% surge in private real estate fund assets, reaching SAR 356 billion, and in public money market funds, which reached SAR 77 billion with an annual growth rate of 57%. Assets under management in public and private debt instrument funds grew by 44%, followed by private equity funds with 31% growth by the end of 2025.
As for the sukuk and debt instruments market, the total value of listed sukuk and debt instruments in the Saudi capital market increased by approximately 7.5% by the end of 2025, reaching SAR 713.4 billion, compared to SAR 663.5 billion at the end of 2024. In addition, the over-the-counter (OTC) settlement service for debt instruments became available, and investment restrictions for public investment funds in private debt instruments were removed. Meanwhile, the total proceeds raised from corporate sukuk and debt offerings reached SAR 50.7 billion, marking the second time in the past four years that the total raised proceeds exceeds that of the equity market, which amounted to SAR 33.9 billion, reflecting the growing attractiveness of the debt market as a vital financing channel.
Within the capital market ecosystem, the CMA issued 32 licenses to new capital market institutions, bringing the total number of licensed institutions to 215 by the end of 2025. Revenues of capital market institutions increased by 19.4%, compared to the previous year, reaching SAR 20.8 billion, while their profits grew by 16%, compared to 2024, reaching SAR 10.2 billion.
As for investor protection, court-awarded compensation in civil claims for which final decisions issued by the judicial committees of the General Secretariat of Committees for Resolution of Securities Disputes amounted to SAR 124.6 million. The CMA also established three compensation funds for those affected by capital market violations, benefiting more than 20,000 investors in accordance with distribution plans approved by the Committee for Resolution of Securities Disputes (CRSD). Meanwhile, the average time to handle violations from the moment of suspicion detection to closure within the CMA and the taking of appropriate action reached 3.2 months.
With regard to Fintech, the number of beneficiary investors increased by 35%, reaching more than 1.06 million investors by the end of 2025 compared to 789.8 thousand investors in 2024. The value of portfolios managed through Robo-advisory platforms reached SAR 6.4 billion, an increase of 86% over the previous year. The value of offerings through debt instrument offering platforms increased by 48% compared to 2024, when it reached SAR 3.4 billion, to record more than SAR 5.1 billion by the end of 2025.
The CMA continued to support the FinTech sector by approving the regulatory framework for the issuance and investment in debt instruments from the FinTech Lab and initiating its implementation in the capital market. This is part of its efforts to establish a legislative and regulatory environment that supports FinTech products, attract innovative business models and advanced technologies, expand financing opportunities, stimulate investment, and contribute to building economic entities that enhance the diversity and depth of the financial sector, in line with the objectives of the Financial Sector Development Program and the Kingdom's aspirations for global leadership in FinTech.
In August 2025, the CMA also conducted a public consultation on regulating the practice of Robo-advisory using algorithms and modern technological tools to manage clients' investments according to predefined investment strategies, to be offered by capital market institutions licensed to conduct investment management activities, or investment management and fund operation activities, following its experimentation by FinTech firms authorized within the FinTech Lab. The framework was approved by the CMA in March 2026.
The Kingdom hosted the first edition of the international Money 20/20 Middle East conference, which witnessed broad participation from prominent regulatory authorities, policymakers, investors, technology experts, and academics, attracting more than 38 thousand visitors, 451 participating entities, and over 1,000 investors from inside and outside the Kingdom.
On the international investment front, the report revealed an increase in net international investment in the Main Market of approximately SAR 20 billion, rising from SAR 204.3 billion in 2024 to SAR 225.2 billion within one year. The number of international investors in the capital market increased by 8.8%, reaching approximately 161 thousand international investors by the end of last year compared to 147.8 thousand international investors the year before. As for legislation related to international investors, the CMA's decision to allow foreign investors to invest in the shares of listed real estate companies that invest in Makkah and Madinah was at the forefront of the regulatory and legislative decisions issued by the CMA, in addition to its publication of a public consultation on opening the Main Market to all categories of non-resident foreign investors, a regulation the CMA adopted at the beginning of this year.
Global competitiveness indicators also witnessed an improvement in the Kingdom's ranking in five out of 12 indicators related to capital markets, reflecting a number of efforts and measures taken in the capital market during the past period to develop the capital market sector.
