Tadawul's main market is open to any registered Saudi resident with a brokerage account. Nomu is not. It is a parallel market with lighter listing requirements, which is exactly why access is restricted — smaller and younger companies, less disclosure, higher risk, so the regulator gates who can buy.
The gate is the qualified investor definition, and on 26 November 2025 the Capital Market Authority moved it.
What changed
Three things, per the CMA's own announcement, corroborated by Argaam reporting the same day.
The transaction threshold halved. The route that qualifies you by trading activity previously required transactions totalling SAR 40 million over the preceding twelve months. That is now SAR 20 million.
The quarterly trading requirement was abolished. Previously you also had to have executed at least ten trades in each quarter. That requirement is gone — activity is now assessed across the full year rather than quarter by quarter. For someone who invests in concentrated bursts rather than steadily, this alone can be the difference.
A bachelor's degree now qualifies. This is the substantive one. The professional route previously required a master's-level qualification or a professional certification. It now accepts a bachelor's degree in finance, investment or accounting.
Board and committee members of Nomu-listed companies were also added as a qualifying category.
Saudi Exchange's investor material continues to list the net-assets route at SAR 5 million.
Who this actually opens the door for
The degree change is aimed, whether by design or effect, at exactly the demographic that fills finance and accounting roles across Riyadh and Jeddah.
An expat with a bachelor's in accounting working in a corporate finance function, who could not have met a SAR 5 million net asset test or traded SAR 40 million in a year, and who did not hold a CFA or a master's, was previously outside the definition on every route. The November amendment gives them one.
That is a large population. Finance, accounting and audit roles across the Kingdom are heavily staffed by expatriate professionals holding exactly the qualification the CMA has now recognised.
What we have not been able to establish. The CMA announcement sets out the criteria. It does not set out the evidencing process — whether a foreign degree needs attestation, which body assesses equivalence, or how a broker verifies the qualification in practice. That will be a broker-level process and it is not published in the announcement. Ask your broker what they require before assuming a degree certificate is sufficient on its own.
Eligibility to invest at all comes first
Two separate gates, and they are often conflated.
The first is whether you can invest in the Saudi market. Saudi Exchange states that an investor "will need to be a Saudi or GCC national or a registered Saudi Arabian resident". An iqama holder qualifies. That gate has not moved and was not affected by the abolition of the Qualified Foreign Investor regime on 1 February 2026 — the QFI framework governed institutions outside the Kingdom, not residents inside it.
The second is whether you are a qualified investor for Nomu purposes. That is the test discussed above, and it applies on top of the first.
Note also that residents remain inside the Rules for Foreign Investment in Securities. Article 5 covers foreign persons "whether residing or not". The 10% single-issuer cap in Article 6(a)(1) is written for a "non-residing foreign investor" and does not bind an iqama holder; the 49% aggregate ceiling in Article 6(a)(2) expressly covers residents and non-residents alike. Neither constrains a retail position, but they are the actual position.
What Nomu is, and what the gate is protecting against
Nomu was launched as a parallel market with lighter listing and disclosure requirements than the main market, intended to give smaller and growing companies a route to public capital.
The consequences for an investor follow from that design. Fewer disclosure obligations mean less information to analyse. Smaller companies mean thinner trading and wider spreads. A restricted investor base means less liquidity than a main-market listing of comparable size, which matters most at the point you want to sell.
The qualified investor test exists because of those characteristics, not despite them. Qualifying is a statement about your circumstances, not about whether the market suits your objectives — those remain separate questions, and clearing a regulatory threshold does not answer the second one.
What it costs to trade
Derayah Financial publishes zero commission on both Tadawul and Nomu, with a minimum of SAR 0.00, with regulatory fees applying separately. That is the only Nomu-specific commission figure we found published by a broker.
Sahm Capital publishes a Saudi equity schedule — 0.105% of the net transaction as standard, currently 0% on a stated limited-time offer, plus CMA, exchange, settlement, clearing and safekeeping fees and 15% VAT, with its US schedule setting a $0.49 minimum on shares priced at or below $5, but does not break out Nomu separately.
Neither fee schedule carries an effective date, though Sahm's pricing page shows a data stamp of 27 January 2026 and Derayah's carries none.
On the trading cost, the visible commission is close to irrelevant here. In a thinly traded market the bid-offer spread will cost you considerably more than a commission of zero or 0.105%, and it is not published anywhere because it is not a fee — it is a market condition. That is the real cost of Nomu and it is worth pricing before you commit.
An unresolved VAT question. Sahm's schedules state that "Foreign investors are exempt from this fee" in relation to the 15% VAT, without defining the term. Under Saudi VAT logic "foreign investor" would ordinarily mean non-resident, which would mean an iqama holder pays it. Sahm does not say so and we are not going to assert it for them. Put the question to your broker in writing.
Opening the account
Derayah states that residents holding an iqama "can open the account electronically by using the national access service (Absher)", the same government identity platform used for other official transactions. GCC nationals are directed to a branch.
Sahm Capital holds CMA licence 22251-25, issued 19 October 2022, began operations on 1 October 2023 and became a Tadawul member on 29 November 2023. It states that it has no account minimums or transaction minimums, with funding by bank transfer or Apple Pay and a requirement that the funding account name match the brokerage account name exactly.
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The degree route is a genuine change and it has had almost no coverage in English aimed at the people it affects. If you hold a bachelor's in finance, investment or accounting and have been outside the qualified investor definition, that changed in November 2025 and it is worth a conversation with your broker.
Two cautions, though, and they pull in the same direction.
The evidencing process is not published, so "I qualify" and "my broker has accepted that I qualify" are different states and only the second one gets you access. Find out what your broker needs before assuming.
And qualifying is a separate question from participating. The definition exists because Nomu is designed differently from the main market — lighter listing and disclosure requirements, smaller companies, and a deliberately restricted investor base, which is what makes liquidity thinner. Clearing the gate tells you the regulator considers you equipped to assess that. Whether the market fits your objectives is a portfolio question, and it deserves the same analysis you would give any other concentrated, less liquid allocation.
Common questions
On 26 November 2025 the CMA halved the transaction route threshold from SAR 40 million to SAR 20 million over the preceding twelve months, abolished the requirement to have executed at least ten trades in each quarter, and added a bachelor's degree in finance, investment or accounting as a qualifying credential. Board and committee members of Nomu-listed companies were also added.
Yes, if they meet the qualified investor definition. Two gates apply. The first is eligibility to invest at all — Saudi Exchange requires an investor to be a Saudi or GCC national or a registered Saudi Arabian resident, and an iqama holder qualifies. The second is the qualified investor test, which is what the November 2025 amendment relaxed.
The CMA's announcement adds a bachelor's degree in finance, investment or accounting to the qualifying criteria, where the professional route previously required a master's-level qualification or professional certification. What the announcement does not set out is the evidencing process — attestation of a foreign degree, equivalence assessment, or how a broker verifies it. Ask your broker what they require.
Saudi Exchange's investor material lists SAR 5 million in net assets as a qualifying route. That figure was not part of the November 2025 changes.
No. The Qualified Foreign Investor framework, abolished effective 1 February 2026, governed institutional access from outside the Kingdom. It was never the route by which a resident invested, and it is separate from the Nomu qualified investor test.
Derayah publishes zero commission on Nomu with a SAR 0.00 minimum, with regulatory fees applying separately. Sahm publishes a Saudi equity schedule without breaking Nomu out. In practice the bid-offer spread in a thinly traded market will cost considerably more than the commission, and that is not a published figure because it is a market condition rather than a fee.
Qualifying is a statement about your circumstances, not about whether the market suits your objectives. Nomu has lighter listing and disclosure requirements than the main market, smaller companies, and liquidity that is thin by design because the investor base is restricted. Those are separate questions from eligibility and they deserve separate consideration.
Next steps
- If you hold a bachelor's in finance, investment or accounting, ask your broker whether they now recognise it for qualified investor status and what evidence they need.
- Establish the evidencing process before assuming a degree certificate alone is sufficient — attestation and equivalence are not addressed in the CMA announcement.
- Price the bid-offer spread on anything you are considering, not the commission. In a thin market the spread is the cost.
- Confirm the VAT treatment that applies to you as an iqama holder, in writing, before funding.
- Treat qualifying and participating as separate decisions.
Further reading on ExpatWealthPlus
- Saudi market access for residents
- Investment platforms in Saudi Arabia
- Derayah or Sahm Capital
- Saudi brokers compared
- End of service compared across the Gulf
Official sources
Every figure in this article is checked against the primary source. These are the places to verify the current position for yourself, since rates, rules and product terms change.
- CMA Saudi Arabia — qualified investor criteria announcement, 26 November 2025 →The SAR 20 million threshold, the abolished quarterly requirement and the degree route
- Argaam — coverage of the same announcement, 26 November 2025 →Independent corroboration of the three changes
- CMA — Rules for Foreign Investment in Securities →Articles 5 and 6(a), which continue to cover resident foreign investors
- Derayah Financial — prices and fees →Zero commission on Tadawul and Nomu
- Sahm Capital — licence and permissions →CMA licence 22251-25 and Tadawul membership from 29 November 2023