RIYADH, 25 May 2006 — In a major initiative to streamline the operations of the Kingdom’s Capital Market Authority (CMA) and to upgrade the local bourse, the CMA signed a contract with a leading Scandinavian trading technology vendor OMX here yesterday.
According to this deal, OMX will provide a new electronic trading infrastructure including surveillance system and infrastructure to the CMA and the Saudi stock market.
“As per the terms of the contract, OMX will be the primary system integrator for the design, implementation and infrastructure of the Saudi Stock Market (Tadawul),” said Abdul Rahman Al-Tuwaijeri, CMA’s chairman and CEO, while addressing a crowded press conference after inking the agreement with OMX. The project encompasses licenses, delivery with support and maintenance.
Referring to the initiatives being taken by the CMA, Tuwaijeri said that OMX would design and implement an electronic trading platform for the stock market Tadawul. The CMA chief did not disclose the financial terms of the deal. Magnus Bocker, OMX chief, signed the agreement. Tuwaijeri, who is also secretary-general of the Supreme Economic Council (SEC), said, “this agreement was part of the strategy to upgrade the technical infrastructure of our capital markets to meet the growing market expectations utilizing best available technologies.”
“Tadawul is committed to providing the highest levels of services to its customers, members, investors and data vendors,” he said. The CMA chief said OMX was selected as main contractor based on its experience and leadership in the exchange industry at international level.
Under the contract, OMX will also provide its platforms for trading and market data dissemination, a Smarts’ market surveillance system and will also integrate a central securities depository solution from Tata Consultancy Services.
“To be chosen to deliver technology to the Saudi stock market is an acknowledgement of our position as a leading provider of market technology,” said Bocker. “Equally important, it is an opportunity to enhance our position in the Middle East. This is the start of a business partnership to further develop both of our companies and the financial markets in the Middle East region.”
OMX, he said, is a leading expert in the exchange industry. Through the Nordic Exchange in Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius, OMX offers access to approximately 80 percent of the Nordic and Baltic securities market.
OMX has also signed a contract with Dubai Financial Market (DFM), in the United Arab Emirates, to provide a new trading system in order to enhance DFM’s IT infrastructure.
“Our integrated technology solutions span the transaction chain enabling efficient securities transactions for exchanges, clearing organizations, central security depositories and other financial institutions around the world,” said the OMX chief after signing the contract.
