The Capital Market Authority invites investors, interested parties and the public to provide their comments and observations on the amended Rules for Qualified Foreign Financial Institutions Investment in Listed Securities, which is made available on CMA’s official website and will continue to receive the comments and observations for 14 calendar days. All comments and observations will be studied and considered for the purpose of issuing the final Rules.
The purpose of these Rules that was issued by the Board of CMA on 15/7/1436H Corresponding to 4/5/2015G Amended by Resolution of the Board of the CMA Dated 5/11/1437H Corresponding to 8/8/2016G, is to set out the procedures, requirements and conditions for the registration of qualified foreign investors (“QFIs”) with the Authority, and to specify their obligations and the obligations of authorised persons in this regard.
Among the proposed amendments, cancelling the requirement of CMA's approval on the registration application which will facilitate the qualification procedures, noting that the proposed rules still require the assessing authorised person to ensure that the application complies with the requirements prescribed by the Rules, in addition to adding more flexibility to the assessment process by replacing a mandatory list of documents with a guidance list or any other alternative document.
Also, lowering the minimum value of the assets under management to be SAR 1,875,000,000 or more, rather than SAR 3,750,000,000 or more.
Moreover, the amended rules added the possibility for the qualified foreign investor to qualify its subsidiaries and managed funds without submitting a separate new qualification application for each of them after adhering to certain conditions. In addition to easing some of the continuous obligation requirements.
It's worth mentioning that CMA has also widened the list of jurisdiction that applies regulatory and monitoring equivalent standards to those of the Kingdom or acceptable to it which it has been circulated to the related authorized persons.
The Rules can be viewed on CMA’s website via the following link:
Rules for Qualified Foreign Financial Institutions Investment in Listed Securities