Become a Member of the Exchange

The Saudi Exchange provides its members great business opportunities that are coupled with state-of-the-art technology and advanced services. 

How To Become An Exchange Member: 

To become a member, a valid license from the Capital Market Authority must be obtained:

• Submit a written application for admission to the Capital Market Authority (CMA). 
• The Applicant should be established in the Kingdom.
• The Applicant must hold a valid license from CMA.
• A legal person that wishes to apply for Derivatives Exchange Membership (an “applicant”) must meet the following conditions on an on-going basis
  • Satisfy one of the following requirements:
    a) be an authorized person, authorized by the Authority to conduct dealing activities; or
    b) have been designated as an ‘exempt’ person by the Authority for the purposes of the Securities Business Regulations.
  • Be either a Clearing Member, or a Non-Clearing Member which has entered into a Non-Clearing Member Clearing Agreement with a General Clearing Member in accordance with the Securities Clearing Centre Rules;
  • Meet the technical, technological, security, and business continuity requirements determined by the Exchange to ensure that applicants may connect to and, once connected, maintain the integrity and security of the Derivatives Trading System, and receive and transmit orders in compliance with the Capital Market Law, its Implementing Regulations, the Exchange Rules and the relevant laws and regulations;
  • Have in place robust internal risk management systems, internal audit and IT systems updated on an ongoing basis;
  • Have qualified employees with sufficient knowledge, experience, training and competence to enable applicants to comply with all requirements.
  • Pay any applicable fees; and
  • Comply with any other conditions proposed by the Exchange and approved by the Authority
• For more information on Clearing Memberships please visit Muqassa website

For more details, please refer to the Authorized Persons Regulations outlined by the Capital Market Authority (CMA) click here.

After obtaining the CMA authorization, member must carry five steps to fully complete the membership process:

1. Preparation.
2. Development & Testing.
3. OMS (Order Management System) Certification.
4. Final Preparation.
5. Soft Launch and Go Live.

Step One: Preparation

In this initial step, the member is expected to provide the following:

• A copy of commercial register, articles of association and CMA license.
• Member location and contact details.
• A letter from the clearing bank of choice.

Saudi Exchange will be appointing a relationship officer who will be leading the membership enrollment along with the member. The officer will be preparing the overall membership enrollment plan with the steps highlighted in these steps.

Step Two: Development & Testing

Testing covers member connectivity through the Order Management System (OMS) and/or any other applications or interfaces that may get connect to Saudi Exchange's environment. To this end, Saudi Exchange will provide OMS certification scripts so the member can start practicing the scenarios and ensure their readiness for final certification. Saudi Exchange provides a fully functional test environment that enables new member to rehearse and test all of their applications and connections. As for data feed, members have the option to connect directly to the Saudi Exchange or through a data provider. If the member decided to receive the feed directly from Saudi Exchange, market data feed testing will be performed.

Step Three: OMS Certification

This phase covers the final technical test by Saudi Exchange. It is intended to ensure that the members systems comply with Saudi Exchange requirements. The OMS system can be obtained from any OMS provider in the market.

Step Four: Final Preparation

After completing both technical and business requirements, Saudi Exchange will carry security audit, site visit, and eventually, a sign-off document.

• Security Audit: the member is required to conduct a third party security audit. The audit can start along with preparation phase. 
• Site Visit: this step is done right after the successful completion of the OMS certification. Saudi Exchange delegates will visit the member to conduct a physical check of the member’s site.
• Tadawul Information License Agreement (TILA): the member has to make sure to sign TILA before going live. Upon request, the member can have a copy of the agreement during development and testing phase for review.
• Sign-off Document: following the completion of all OMS certification related activities; the member must confirm their readiness to launch their business on the Saudi Exchange systems by signing “Sign-Off” document. The main purpose of the “Sign-Off” document is to get a formal confirmation from the member to go live.

Step Five: Soft Launch and Go live

After completing all Saudi Exchange membership requirements, newly enrolled member must specify their needs for any backup trade workstation as well as back office users authorized to operate the backup trade workstation. Member will be required to submit a copy of the CMA Business Commencement Permission Letter to Saudi Exchange.

For more information on how to Become a Member of the Exchange, please call us at +966 92000 1919. You may also contact us via email at csc@saudiexchange.sa