Firms fined for violating Saudi rules

Riyadh: Saudi Arabia's Capital Market Authority, or CMA, said yesterday it fined three firms a total of 150,000 Saudi riyals (Dh146,484) for violating the rules of the Arab world's largest bourse.

Al Ahli Takaful, Saudi International Petrochemical, or Sipchem, and Saudi Fransi Cooperative Insurance were each fined SAR50,000 for violating the exchange rules in their 2009 financial statements, CMA said in a statement posted on the Saudi bourse website.

Strict control

In recent months, the kingdom's market regulator has asserted more control over the stock market, the best performing in the Gulf this year so far, in an effort to stamp out manipulative and speculative trading, and attract more stable institutional and foreign investors.

The CMA issued its first prison sentence in August last year, locking up the former chairman of Bishah Agricultural Development for three months, and fined Prince Ahmad Bin Khalid Al Saud, the chairman of Saudi Chemical for disclosure violations in October.

The Tadawul, as Riyadh's stock exchange is known, has long been closed to the rest of the world through stringent foreign investment rules and has remained dominated by local retail investors.

Listed companies in Saudi are worth about $319 billion, almost as much as the rest of the Gulf markets combined.