Riyadh – Mubasher: The third edition of the Saudi Capital Market Forum (SCMF) has witnessed the successful rollout of Single Stock Options (SSOs) contracts on the Saudi National Bank (SNB).

The debut of SSOs on the SNB is expected to empower both local and international investors to efficiently hedge and manage portfolio risks, while also broadening the array of tradable products in the market, according to a press release.

SCMF 2024 also featured the announcement of three new members in the Saudi Exchange’ (Tadawul) Derivatives Market.

Al Rahji Capital, Al Khabeer Capital, and Al Jazira Capital became the newest members of the Derivatives Market, which is slated to commence brokerage services later this year,

The SCMF, convened between 19 and 20 February, under the auspices of Mohammed Al Jadaan, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Finance and Chairman of the Financial Sector Development Program, sustained the momentum from prior editions.

With the overarching theme of "Powering Growth," the two-day event includes over 54 speakers and 69 sponsors.

During the SCMF, Mohammed ElKuwaiz, Chairman of the Capital Market Authority (CMA), revealed that the number of initial public offerings (IPO) in the pipeline across the Saudi Exchange’s (Tadawul) Main market and the Nomu-Parallel market has increased by 30% year-on-year (YoY) to 56, in comparison to the previous year.

Meanwhile, Minister of Investment, Khalid Al Falih stated that the gross domestic product (GDP) of Saudi Arabia has surged to more than SAR 4 trillion from SAR 2.60 trillion in nominal terms.

SNB on Wednesday announced completing its offering of 4,250 USD-denominated senior unsecured Sukuk worth $850 million.