RIYADH: Saudi Arabia and China’s financial markets will see a new chapter of connectivity with the recent launch of exchange-traded funds on Chinese bourses, according to Public Investment Fund Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan. At the listing event in Shenzhen, Al-Rumayyan stressed that the ETF gives investors in Asia access to the Saudi equity market and its sustainable long-term growth driven by strategic economic transformation. Last week, two new ETFs focused on the Kingdom’s stocks debuted in Shanghai and Shenzhen. The feeder funds, operating under the Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor program, began trading on July 16, with both briefly hitting the 10 percent daily limit on their launch day. The first fund, CSOP Saudi Arabia ETF QDII, managed by China Southern Asset Management, is listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange after raising 634 million Chinese yuan ($87 million). The second fund, the Huatai-PineBridge managed CSOP Saudi Arabia ETF QDII, started trading on the Shanghai Stock Exchange after raising 590 million Chinese yuan. These new ETFs are among the first batch of funds in China able to invest in the Saudi Arabia stock market. PIF aims to attract foreign investors and deepen capital inflows into Saudi Arabia, continuing from the success of the CSOP Saudi Arabia ETF introduced on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in November 2023. This fund, launched with an initial investment of over $1 billion, including a $500 million contribution from PIF, became the world"s largest Saudi Arabian ETF. According to Abdulmajeed Al-Hagbani, Head of Securities Investments in the Middle East and North Africa Investments Division at PIF, the ETFs aim to address the needs of international stakeholders by allowing them to diversify their portfolios within the Kingdom’s market. He added that the Saudi capital market is focused on attracting new investors, noting that a diversified investor base is crucial for the market’s growth. The statement highlighted that these developments offer Chinese stakeholders new opportunities to invest in the Middle East’s largest market and establish a bridge for greater access to one of the world’s fastest-growing and most strategic markets. The statement added that, over time, these initiatives will also benefit individual investors in Saudi Arabia.