Legal grounds for criminalising insider trading have evolved in many developed countries, including the United States (US), the United Kingdom (UK), and the European Union (EU) countries, and laws and regulations have been implemented to combat such illegal and harmful conduct. Despite Saudi regulators adopting various viewpoints and terminology from US and UK capital markets and their securities laws and regulations, the grounds for criminalising insider trading remain questionable. In this study, the author assessed and explored the provisions of the Saudi Companies Law (SCL), Capital Market Law (CML), Market Conduct Regulations (MCRs), and case law to determine whether fiduciary grounds for criminalising insider trading practices exist in Saudi Arabia. The author applied a mixed-methods approach to investigate how insider trading fiduciary duty-based legal theories from developed world jurisdictions might apply to the Saudi Stock Exchange, particularly considering whether Saudi Arabia has a fiduciary basis for criminalising insider trading and combatting various insider trading activities. The author found that despite fiduciary grounds for criminalising insider trading in Saudi Arabia under the SCL, judicial committee rulings and reasons for charging violators have not relied on such grounds.
Abdullah Faraj Al Dossari (Tue,) studied this question.