The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has two regulators responsible for the authorization and supervision of banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions. These are the Saudi Central Bank (previously known as the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency but retaining the acronym "SAMA") and the Capital Market Authority (CMA). The allocation of responsibilities between the SAMA and the CMA is as follows:

• The SAMA regulates the following entities:
  • Conventional banks (deposit takers)
  • Insurance companies that engage in any insurance and re-insurance activities, including general insurance, health insurance and protection and savings insurance
  • Finance companies that engage in real estate finance, production asset finance, small and medium enterprise finance, financial lease services, credit card finance, consumer finance, micro finance, and any other financial activity approved by the SAMA

Given that the above entities are regulated by the SAMA, no banking business, insurance or re-insurance activity or finance activity may be conducted in Saudi Arabia without obtaining a license from the SAMA. Carrying out any of the activities listed above without obtaining a license from the SAMA is strictly prohibited.

• The CMA regulates financial institutions that conduct securities business (“Capital Market Institutions”), including investment banks, asset managers, brokers, custodians and financial advisers. (For more details on what constitutes securities business, please see Section 3 below.)

Conducting any securities activity in Saudi Arabia without obtaining a license from the CMA is strictly prohibited.