eFinancialCareers

As international interest in the Saudi Arabia stock market reaches new highs, demand for ECM professionals in the kingdom is on the up.

In spite of the liberalisation of Saudi laws to allow foreign investments in the past couple of years, access to the Tadawul all-share index has traditionally been limited to Saudi and GCC nationals.

But change is afoot, and international firms are rolling out new investment products to meet the demand from foreign investors.

The Capital Market Authority – the Saudi regulator – has issued licences to 79 investment companies since 2005, including Western firms like Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan and Merrill Lynch.

Yassar Toukan, general manager of Saudi recruitment firm Brainlease, says he’s seen a dramatic increase in demand for equity capital markets professionals over the last year, but localisation requirements – peaking at 80% – have made recruitment difficult.

“We have to either try to attract a qualified candidate to move from one bank to another opportunity or to source people from other GCC countries from where they either commute back and forth or can get visas quite easily,” he says.

Headhunters report that salaries for ECM professionals with five to seven years' experience can range from $80k to $180k, while 10 years' experience can command a base salary of $250k. Bonuses come in at 20-30% of salary.

Bill Allum, head of Middle East at executive search firm Napier Scott, says too much emphasis is placed on a Saudi skills shortage and the kingdom is well placed to find talent locally: “There is a large indigenous population, and there are a large number of well-educated candidates who have a lot of experience working for international institutions.”

Big ECM deals tipped for this year on the Tadawul all-share index include a 70% stake in government-launched Inmaa Bank, the 50% flotation of state-owned mining firm Ma’aden, and the 40% sale of the consortium Zain Group.

The six GCC capital markets raised more than $175bn last year, according to a Thomson-IFR Gulf Capital Markets briefing, and the number of IPOs rose by 50% on the 2006 figure.

The Saudi stock market has risen by 43% in the last 12 months after a volatile period which dulled activity.