In a much anticipated announcement Saudi Arabia's Capital Markets Authority (CMA) said it will allow qualified foreign financial institutions to trade shares listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange from June 15 2015.

Final rules will be approved and published on May 4 and those rules will be effective from June 1.

The CMA says it has set out the timeline in the lead up to opening the Tadawul exchange, to enable authorised parties to prepare to receive applications of foreign financial institutions and to achieve better transparency for the public and financial institutions.

The move follows the unprecedented Council of Ministers’ Resolution No 388 of July 21 2014 that permitted the CMA to allow foreign financial institutions to trade shares listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange. The Council of Ministers left it up to the CMA to decide the terms and timing of the arrangement.

The CMA says it has reviewed comments and observations made on draft rules published on August 21 2014, coordinated with governmental parties, and gained confirmation of readiness from the Tadawul.