HSBC announced that it has successfully completed the first securities lending transaction in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
HSBC acted as custodian and agent lender on the transaction for a large regional asset owner, enabling HSBC, in its role of brime Broker, to borrow Saudi Arabian equities from the asset owner and provide access to the Kingdom’s burgeoning equities market for a global institutional investor.
The transaction marks a key milestone for the Kingdom’s capital markets and Saudi Vision 2030, which includes the financial sector as one of its central pillars to propel the country into the top ten financial markets globally. Today, the Tadawul is already among the top 10 exchanges in the world, with securities valued at around $2.4 trillion.
Adnan Hussain, global head of Agency Securities Lending at HSBC, said in a statement: “Saudi Arabia’s opening up of its capital markets to securities lending for the first time not only allows us to help asset owners receive potentially higher returns from their Saudi investments, but also facilitates more liquidity into the market and enhance price discovery.”
Since the Capital Markets Authority of Saudi Arabia started permitting foreign investors to directly access its capital markets in 2015, the extent and pace of developments has accelerated. Saudi stocks are now included in the FTSE Russell and MSCI emerging markets indices, while there have also been consistent enhancements to the Kingdom’s regulatory framework and market infrastructure, along with the publication of new rules relating to securities lending and borrowing.