Saudi Arabia’s Capital Market Authority said a review of rules that limit foreign ownership in local stocks is underway as the kingdom looks to open further to overseas investors.

“FOL is under review,” said board member Abdulaziz Abdulmohsen Bin Hassan, referring to foreign ownership limits that currently prevent overseas investors from holding majority stakes in local companies.

“We are committed to make it happen and we hope it’s going to be happening this year.”

The comments, made at the Capital Markets Forum Select in New York on Monday, indicate the regulator is proceeding with plans to lift the cap from 49 percent this year after months of uncertainty around the issue.

Bin Hassan didn’t offer further clarity on next steps but the CMA has said that its review would include analysis of whether to completely remove foreign ownership limits or take a more gradual approach.

A change in rules is perhaps the most closely-watched move for Saudi markets in 2026. A complete scrapping of the cap is something Wall Street firms from Goldman Sachs Group Inc to JPMorgan Chase & Co have said could unlock $10 billion in fresh inflows for the Gulf nation. 

“Foreign capital is super important for Saudi Arabia and it’s very important to highlight where we were four or five years ago,” Nayef Al-Athel, chief sales and marketing officer at Saudi Tadawul Group Holding Co said in an interview to Bloomberg. “We were a local retail-driven market with about 80 percent of our investor base and liquidity coming from retail investors. And we’ve made a lot of efforts towards institutionalizing the Saudi Arabian market and today we are 50 percent-50 percent in terms of institutional and retail money and a lot of that institutional money is coming from foreign investors,” he added.

“The majority of our clients are from the US and Europe, and we are starting to see some growth coming from the Asian investors, specifically Singapore, Hong Kong, China and Japan, Yazeed AlDomaiji, chief executive officer of Wamid, Saudi Tadawul Group’s technology innovation subsidiary said in an interview on the sidelines of Capital Markets Forum Select.

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Saudi Arabia’s move to liberalize its equity market is one of a recent flurry of reforms — including allowing all foreigners to directly trade local stocks — aimed at drawing more foreign direct investment to the kingdom. It’s also part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s effort to create more robust financial markets that can help advance his $2 trillion agenda to diversify the economy away from oil.

The Tadawul All Share Index rallied 8.5 percent in January, its best month since 2022, in part due to bullishness around the changes. The benchmark rose 1.4 percent on Monday.