Mohammed ElKuwaiz was appointed board chairman of the Saudi Capital Market Authority (CMA) in July 2017, having been vice chairman since August 2016. ElKuwaiz was the co-founder and CEO of Derayah Financial Co., and formerly a management consultant with McKinsey & Co. Prior to that, he worked in investment banking and corporate finance with Samba Financial Group and has held various roles in the financial and corporate sector. ElKuwaiz gained a master’s degree in business administration from New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business, specializing in finance and entrepreneurship. He holds a bachelor’s degree in administrative sciences with honors from King Saud University in Riyadh, majoring in law. Recently, ElKuwaiz addressed the Financial Sector Conference held in Riyadh. During one of the sessions, he spoke about the significant achievements over the past few years toward building a competitive capital market in Saudi Arabia. “We are working on releasing the first financial derivatives to empower foreign investment, and we allow foreign companies to enlist in the Saudi capital market,” ElKuwaiz told delegates. The conference session also included discussions on ways to create a deep and liquid debt capital market, progress on developing the regulatory framework to meet Vision 2030 objectives, and the most appropriate kind of derivative market for Saudi Arabia.