Sahm Capital Hosts Its First Global Investment Summit in Riyadh, Spotlighting Vision 2030 and Shifts in Global Markets
Sahm Capital, one of the Kingdom’s fastest-growing fintech companies, has successfully concluded its first Sahm Investment Strategies Summit in Riyadh, bringing together more than 200 investors, decision-makers, and representatives from leading financial institutions for a full day of high-level discussions on the future of capital markets and wealth creation in Saudi Arabia.
Held under the theme *“With Sahm, Own the Summit,”* the event underscored the scale of opportunity created by convening Sahm’s rapidly expanding user community alongside representatives from the Capital Market Authority (CMA), Saudi Tadawul Group, the Financial Academy, Nasdaq, and a distinguished group of other regional and global institutions.
Rapid Platform Growth
In his opening address, Mohammed Alassiri, Chief Financial Officer at Sahm Capital, highlighted the strong momentum the company has achieved since its launch two years ago. He outlined Sahm’s rapid rise to become one of the fastest-growing trading platforms in the Kingdom, including surpassing one million users in its first year and achieving nearly 70% year-on-year user growth in its second year.
Alassiri noted that the continuous rollout of advanced trading tools and integrated social trading features has played a pivotal role in reshaping how retail investors engage with the Saudi capital market. He emphasized that the summit reflects Sahm’s ongoing commitment to transforming data and technology into accessible opportunities for individual investors, reaffirming the company’s focus on empowerment, accessibility, and continuous innovation to support investors on their wealth-building journey.
Global and Local Outlook for 2026
The summit opened with a forward-looking global keynote by Rami Al-Dakani, Secretary General of the Union of Arab Capital Markets, who examined how shifting macroeconomic policies are reshaping investor strategies as markets approach 2026. He highlighted four key forces expected to shape global asset allocation in the coming year: easing inflation in the United States, the anticipated path of interest rate cuts, rising geopolitical and trade tensions, and sustained productivity growth driven by artificial intelligence.
Al-Dakani also outlined four strategic investment themes aligned with these trends for 2026, including portfolio diversification toward emerging markets, increased exposure to fixed income instruments, higher allocations to gold and precious metals amid market volatility, and early positioning in artificial intelligence as a multi-year structural growth theme.
This was followed by an in-depth analysis of the Saudi economy presented by Dr. Adnan Abulheija, Associate Professor of Finance at Alfaisal University. He explored the accelerating pace of economic growth under Vision 2030 and how ongoing reforms led by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz and His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman are driving broad-based economic diversification across tourism, entertainment, technology, renewable energy, logistics, and digital infrastructure.
Dr. Abulheija emphasized that this structural integration positions the Kingdom as a regional and global leader, noting that these sectors are developing as interconnected ecosystems that attract global expertise, generate new revenue streams, and create a compelling environment for investors, innovators, and entrepreneurs alike.
Digital Assets and Artificial Intelligence Take Center Stage
Digital transformation emerged as a central theme throughout the summit. Dr. Gonsel Topbas, Co-Founder and Head of Fintech at Manifest Executive Advisory, delivered an in-depth analysis of the next phase of fintech innovation driven by Web3 technologies, blockchain infrastructure, stablecoins, and tokenized real-world assets. He explained how global institutions and GCC-based entities are moving from experimentation to large-scale adoption as regulatory frameworks mature and infrastructure reaches institutional readiness.
Topbas stressed that tokenization is no longer a theoretical concept, enabling fractional ownership, 24/7 cross-border settlement, improved operational efficiency, and new liquidity models that could fundamentally reshape access to assets for institutions and retail investors over the next decade.
In a separate keynote, Sam Chang, Chair of the Investment Decision Committee at RUIDU, discussed how artificial intelligence, alternative data, and systematic models are becoming foundational to modern market decision-making. He noted that quantitative investing is rapidly evolving from a niche strategy into a core requirement as markets grow more complex and data-driven. Chang also highlighted the Middle East’s emergence as a global hub for quantitative innovation, supported by sovereign wealth funds, progressive regulation, and robust digital infrastructure.
Market Structure and Regulatory Developments
The summit also examined how structural modernization is reshaping Saudi Arabia’s capital markets. In a panel featuring leaders from Wamid, Saudi Awwal Bank (SAB), and Nasdaq, experts discussed the accelerating role of AI in market analytics, the impact of advanced matching engines and data platforms on liquidity, and the importance of seamless cross-border connectivity in attracting international capital.
In a subsequent session with representatives from the Capital Market Authority, ewpartners, and the Financial Academy, speakers explored how national and global trends are influencing Saudi Arabia’s investment landscape, emerging Vision 2030-linked sectors, and the skills and capabilities required to support long-term sustainable development. Panelists noted that the Kingdom’s strong macroeconomic fundamentals position it to be among the world’s fastest-growing equity markets in 2026, with a growing role for both institutional and retail investors.
