Saudi Arabia’s bourse regulator said on Tuesday its has licensed six local firms to offer services to securities investors.
The firms include investment companies, consultancies and a brokerage firm, the Capital Market Authority (CMA) said in a statement on the bourse Web site.
CMA said in late 2006 that it had licensed a first batch of 14 independent brokerage firms. Traditionally banks have dominated brokerage activities in the kingdom.
The Saudi bourse, the Arab world’s largest, is trying to shed a reputation abroad of being opaque and poorly regulated.
In June, CMA fined two traders from the kingdom’s largest brokerage and two investors a total 410,000 riyals ($109,300) for violating trading regulations.
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