RIYADH —The Capital Market Authority (CMA) held, Tuesday, an evening hailing the launch of a new book titled “The Story of the Market” which documents key stages in the Saudi Capital Market’s history that haven’t’ been tackled before.

The evening comprised a dialogue session attended by the Chairman of the Board of the CMA Mohammed Bin Abdullah Elkuwaiz, Governor of the Saudi Central Bank Dr. Fahd Bin Abdullah Al-Mubarak, and Managing Director and Chairman of the Board of Commissioners of the Kuwaiti Capital Markets Authority Dr. Ahmed Al Melhem.

The Book, issued in two “research and illustration” versions by the Saudi CMA, addresses the history of the Saudi Capital Market through three stages, starting with the inception of national joint stock companies and challenges faced in the early years of the last century, passing through assigning the supervision of the capital market to a ministerial committee, to the last stage which witnessed the issuance of the Capital Market Law and establishing its relevant system.

The CMA’s chairman expressed his happiness for launching the Book after going through a research journey extended over three years, during which the CMA held more than 80 interviews with economic figures participated and shared the capital market’s journey, in addition to using various scientific references and hundreds of historic documents.

This Book is part of the initiative adopted by the CMA to document the history of the capital market since inception. The initiative aims to scientifically record the emergence and history of the capital market, gather scattered documents and information to place them as scientific references for the specialist academics and researchers related to the capital market and give lessons on the successive developments the CMA has witnessed, Elkuwaiz added.

The Saudi Central Bank’s governor also expressed his joy of the depth of issues the Book tackled. “The Book has discussed historic stages that haven’t’ been tackled before by any books that handled the topic of capital market. The Book also offered interesting historic information in a thrilling and agile style,” Al-Mubarak added.

The governor talked about the transition stage between the ministerial committee and the CMA, explaining some of the facts and stories included within the Book content in the said stage, how the Capital Market Law was issued, and the appointment of first board of members for Saudi Tadawul chaired by Al-Mubarak himself.

Finally, Dr. Al Melhem tackled the history of the Kuwaiti capital market, inception and events witnessed, referring to Souk Al-Manakh events and their reflections and repercussions on the Kuwaiti capital market and economy in general. —SPA