Regulating securities market abuse: a comparative legal study of United Kingdom and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s financial regulatory systems
Financial markets play a crucial role in the development of trade and investment across the world. They have also helped in shaping the economy of many countries through emerging resolve to diversify their economy by building financial markets that are attractive to both domestic and foreign investors. But beyond the participation of investors, there has been continuous determination to establish robust regulatory frameworks in order to make the market safer for investors and for the economy. To achieve this, the need for effective legislation and proper enforcement against market abuse has become a prominent part of policy decisions across nations and regions. This works looks at the development of financial market in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in comparison with developments in the United Kingdom. In doing so, the study makes a contribution to the field of knowledge by critically discussing the challenges of emerging markets such as Saudi Arabia in not only expanding its financial industry but in restructuring the industry with new regulations, products and services that are also protected from market abuse. The study is also one that for the first time, compares these two jurisdictions in the context of financial market regulations and legal mechanisms against market abuse. The study examines these regimes from a legal perspective, by looking at the development of the two financial markets regimes and especially the way regulatory frameworks modelled and implemented to deal with market abuse. The thesis also looks at the critical issues and challenges of dealing with insider trading and market manipulation in the face of Saudi’s growing ambition to reach out to the global market while keeping it traditional model of Islamic finance. These issues were discussed in comparison to the model in the UK and how the UK legal framework works to curtail abuse of the market, ensure compliance and investor safety as well as issues relating to penalties for offenders. The thesis further relates these aspects of financial markets to the challenges of dealing with the growing volume of products and services that are becoming increasingly sophisticated in a global market that has continued to become interconnected
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