Saudi Business Activity Surges as CMA Advances Capital Market Reforms

Short-term operating revenues up 10.2%, quarterly wholesale and retail trade up 7.3%, and a CMA consultation aimed at streamlining licensing and lowering capital thresholds together signal a deepening, more efficient Saudi capital and business environment.

This week's official statistics and regulatory developments paint a consistent picture: the Saudi non-oil economy is moving at full pace and the financial regulator is acting to broaden access. The General Authority for Statistics published two robust prints — one on monthly business activity and one on quarterly trade — both confirming strong underlying momentum. In parallel, the Capital Market Authority opened a public consultation on a meaningful package of reforms designed to enhance the efficiency of securities business activities, ease licensing requirements, and lower capital thresholds in line with international best practices. Together, the developments mark a clear continuation of the institutional momentum that has defined Vision 2030's execution phase.

Macro: Short-Term Business Operating Revenue Index Surges 10.2% in March

The General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) reported on 20 May that the short-term business operating revenue index rose 10.2% year-on-year in March 2026, underscoring the continued strength of the Kingdom's non-oil business activity. Growth was broad-based, but particularly concentrated in four sectors: mining and quarrying (+25.5%), financial and insurance activities (+17.6%), construction (+4.8%), and wholesale, retail trade and vehicle repair (+4.6%).

The momentum extended on a monthly basis as well, with the index rising 8.1% versus February 2026 — driven by mining and quarrying (+38.6%), manufacturing (+4.4%), financial and insurance activities (+2.6%), information and communications (+0.6%), and continued, if modest, gains in wholesale and retail trade (+0.2%). The headline takeaway for institutional investors is structural: revenue growth is no longer concentrated in a single cyclical sector, but distributed across the productive base of the economy — precisely the diversification thesis at the centre of Vision 2030.

Trade: Quarterly Wholesale and Retail Revenues Up 7.3%

In a parallel data release, Al-Eqtisadiah reported that quarterly wholesale and retail trade revenues in the Kingdom climbed 7.3%, driven principally by two activities sustaining the consumer-spending and distribution backbone of the economy. The print aligns directly with the GASTAT operating revenue series, reinforcing the consistency of the underlying signal: domestic demand is robust, the consumer is engaged, and trade is expanding at a pace well ahead of regional and global comparables.

For investors, the data confirms that the Saudi consumer story is becoming more durable. Combined with stable inflation, a recovering employment outlook, and continued public investment, the wholesale and retail trade segment is increasingly behaving like a developed-market consumption channel — broad, resilient, and structurally tied to demographic and lifestyle trends rather than to short-term cyclical conditions.

Capital Markets: CMA Opens Public Consultation on a New Round of Securities Reform

On 18 May, the Capital Market Authority launched a 30-day public consultation — closing 17 June 2026 — on a draft package of reforms designed to enhance the efficiency of securities business activities and align the Kingdom's regulatory framework with international best practices. The proposed changes mark one of the most significant calibrations of the licensing framework in recent years.

Key elements include:

• A reduction in the minimum capital requirement for custody activities from SAR 50 million to SAR 20 million, materially lowering the barrier to entry for service providers.

• A new SAR 2 million minimum capital requirement for arrangement activities that include custody of client funds in securities crowdfunding — a targeted measure that recognises the risk profile of an emerging financing channel.

• Splitting the dealing licence into two distinct categories: principal dealing, underwriting and margin transactions (SAR 20 million minimum capital), and agency dealing (SAR 10 million minimum capital).

• Streamlining licensing application requirements, allowing advisory-only institutions greater flexibility to combine functions, and updating KYC requirements with risk-based AML and CFT classifications.

The structural context is important. The CMA confirmed that the number of capital market institutions in the Kingdom has more than doubled since 2017 — from 86 to 215 by the end of Q4 2025 — and this reform package is explicitly designed to sustain that growth trajectory by removing frictions that no longer serve a regulatory purpose. For institutional investors and market participants, the message is clear: the CMA is actively engineering a more competitive, more accessible, and more efficient market structure.

Sources

• General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) — Short-Term Business Indicators

• Bulletin, March 2026, published 20 May 2026 - Al-Eqtisadiah — Quarterly wholesale and retail revenues in Saudi Arabia up 7.3% driven by two activities

• Capital Market Authority (CMA) — Public consultation on developing securities business activities, published 18 May 2026