Good morning, wonderful people. We kick off the last workweek in August with a light issue featuring the final regs for the White Land Tax law, SRC getting the green light for residential mortgage-backed securities from Sama, and more.

HAPPENING TODAY-

#1- The Federation of Saudi Chambers — represented by the Saudi-Syrian Business Council — is hosting its first Saudi-Syrian private sector investment forum today, state news agency SPA reported on Thursday. The event brings together government officials and council members to explore potential investments, partnerships, and ways for the Saudi private sector to support Syria’s reconstruction.

ICYMI- The Saudi-Syrian Investment Forum, which was held in July, wrapped up with 47 agreements, valued at around SAR 24 bn. The agreements spanned sectors including real estate, infrastructure, finance, energy, telecommunications, technology, tourism, manufacturing, and trade.

#2- The International Facility Management Conference and Exhibition commences today and will run through Tuesday at the Riyadh International Convention and Exhibition Center. The three-day event, organized by Saudi Facility Management Association, will see over 210 entities and 200 speakers participate in more than 120 workshops focused on promoting sustainability, adoption of smart technologies, and developing local competencies.

WEATHER- Thunderstorms and heavy rain are forecast to persist over Jazan, Asir, Al Baha, and Makkah today, with light to moderate showers expected in Madinah, Najran, Riyadh, and the Eastern Province. Riyadh is expected to see a high of 42°C and a low of 30°C today, while Jeddah’s mercury will peak at 38°C and bottom out at 33°C. Makkah will see a 38°C high and 30°C low.

PSAs-

#1- The Commerce Ministry’s draft executive regulations for the Precious Metals and Gemstones Law are currently up for public consultations on the Istitlaa platform, where feedback will be received until Thursday, 4 September 2025. The proposed regulations aim to align with the amendments to the Precious Metals and Gemstones Law approved in October last year, which grants the Industry Ministry the authority to oversee precious metals and gemstone production while authorizing the Commerce Ministry to regulate their trade.

#2-Applicants can now register for the real estate hackathon Aqarthon, set to run from 29 September to 1 October, the Real Estate General Authority said in a statement on Friday. The event — in partnership with Al Yamamah University — will feature workshops and training programs aimed at developing digital solutions for property management, brokerage advertising and development.

#3- Title deed registration for about 31.8k properties in 14 neighborhoods in the Eastern Province will run from 12 October to 15 January 2026, the Real Estate General Authority said in a statement on Thursday. Another 3.2k properties in the Al Yasmin district in Hail will be open for registration from 5 October to 8 January 2026. Owners can register through the Real Estate Registry platform, with each property assigned a unique number and registration deed containing detailed information once registered.

WATCH THIS SPACE-

#1- Saudi Arabia and the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) are reportedly on the hunt for new countries to potentially host the 2029 Asian Winter Games, amid construction hurdles at the designated mountain resort Trojena, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing sources it said are in the know. Informal talks have been held between Saudi and Chinese officials, the sources said, amid reports that the estimated USD 19 bn project — originally scheduled for completion in 2026 — may face delays.

On the OCA radar: The OCA contacted the Korean Sport and Olympic Committee (KSOC) to gauge its interest in hosting the tournament, Bloomberg cited an emailed statement from a KSOC official. The OCA acknowledged the risks of delays at Trojena, but stated it is too early to make a call, suggesting next year would be a more suitable time.

BACKGROUND- The Kingdom is reportedly racing to finish Trojena ahead of the 2029 Games amid tough engineering challenges, tight deadlines, and growing financial pressures on its gigaprojects, Bloomberg reported last week. The Kingdom might resort to scaling back its plans for Trojena to meet deadlines and host the tournament in 2033, swapping the 2029 edition with China, some of the sources said.

#2- Humain Chat’s Allam comes online tomorrow: Allam — the AI model powering Humain Chat — will be launched tomorrow in partnership with the Saudi Data & AI Authority, CEO Tareq Amin said on LinkedIn yesterday. Allam is developed entirely by a Saudi team from infrastructure and model to application, Amin told Alarabiya earlier this month.

Starting strong: Since launching earlier this year, PIF-backed Humain has signed over USD 23 bn worth of agreements with US tech firms, including Nvidia, AMD, Amazon Web Services, and Qualcomm, Amin said in May. The company is also expected to launch a USD 10 bn venture capital fund this summer, and it established in June a new division for advertising, video games, and film, Humain Create, in partnership with US-based generative AI startup Luma AI.

DATA POINTS-

#1-Nearly 15.2 mn pilgrims performed Umrah in 1Q 2025, with Saudis accounting for 24% of the total and males making up 60.5%, the General Authority for Statistics (Gastat) said in a statement on Thursday. Around 6.5 mn pilgrims came from abroad, up 10.7% y-o-y, mostly via air (82.2%). Meanwhile, domestic pilgrims totaled 8.7 mn, 58% of whom were non-Saudis. Madinah visitors reached 6.5 mn during the quarter, including 4.4 mn from abroad.

#2-The population of Saudi women reached 9.8 mn in 2024, with those aged 15-34 accounting for 35.7% of the total and those aged 20–24 making up 17.6%, Gastat said in a statement on Thursday. Female unemployment fell to 13% last year, down from 19% in 2022, while labor force participation rose to 36% and the share of employed Saudi women reached 31.8%.

SPORTS-

#1- Esports Nations Cup unveiled: The Esports World Cup Foundation is launching a new biennial tournament, the Esports Nations Cup (ENC), set to debut in Riyadh in November 2026, it said in a statement yesterday. The event will feature national teams, unlike the club-based Esports World Cup (EWC), and will include team-based and solo-player formats.

More details: The foundation is working with video game publishers such as US-based Electronic Arts, South Korea’s Krafton, China’s Tencent, and France’s Ubisoft to identify top players and select national coaches. The ENC will use a multi-layered system combining global rankings, regional qualifiers, and Wildcard entries.

Four editions of the tournament will rotate host cities in countries where esports is popular. Prize money is expected to be similar to the USD 70 mn offered at the second EWC, CEO Ralf Reichert told Reuters.

ALSO- Homegrown Falcons claimed their second consecutive Esports World Cup title, topping the standings with 4.9k points, state news agency SPA reported on Friday. The Falcons beat top international clubs in the event concluding today, with the Netherlands’ Team Liquid in second place (4.2k points) and France’s Team Vitality in third spot (3.95k points).

#2-Al Ahli won the Saudi Super Cup for the second time after defeating Al Nassr 5-3 on penalties yesterday in Hong Kong, after a 2-2 draw. Cristiano Ronaldo opened the scoring with his 100th goal for Al Nassr, becoming the first player to score 100 goals for four different clubs. Franck Kessie leveled the score for Al Ahli in the first half’s stoppage time.

In the second half, Marcelo Brozovic put Al Nassr ahead in the 82nd minute, but Roger Ibanez scored an equalizer for Al Ahli seven minutes later, sending the game to a penalty shootout.

#3- FROM THE TENNIS WORLD- The Public Investment Fund (PIF) launched ATP TennisIQ platform in partnership with Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), the PIF said in a press release on Friday. The PIF-powered tech platform will provide 2k ATP Tour and ATP Challenger Tour players and coaches with real-time insights and match analytics using advanced scouting, video analysis, and wearables insights.

REMEMBER- The PIF inked in February 2024 a “multi-year strategic partnership” with ATP Tour, the governing body of men’s professional tennis, becoming the official naming partner of ATP rankings and partner in ATP Tour events, including Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, Beijing, and Italy’s Nitto ATP Finals, as well as the Next Gen ATP Finals, which Jeddah will host until 2027.

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THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

Famine declared in Gaza: The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), the world's leading hunger monitor, has declared that a quarter of the enclave’s population of 2 mn are suffering from famine, accusing Israel of the "systematic obstruction" of food supplies. Deaths from malnutrition have been spiking all around the packed war-torn area, rising to 273 deaths, including 112 children.

“It is a man-made disaster, a moral indictment – and a failure of humanity itself,” UN ChiefAntónio Guterres said, placing the “unequivocal” responsibility of ensuring access to food and medical supplies on Israel “as the occupying power.”

FROM THE FED- Chair Jerome Powell hinted at the resumption of the interest rate easing cycle in September, arguing at the Jackson Hole meeting on Friday that "in the near term, risks to inflation are tilted to the upside, and risks to employment to the downside — a challenging situation."

Nothing set in stone: Despite being under pressure from the Trump administration to move ahead with rate cuts, Powell cautioned that a September rate cut is not a given and that “monetary policy is not on a preset course.” Markets were happy nonetheless, with S&P 500 soaring after the first minutes of the speech and closing 1.5% higher on Friday.

The meeting comes amid more drama surrounding the Fed, with the US government now targeting governor Lisa Cook, urging her removal due to allegations of mortgage fraud that have yet to be confirmed. (Guardian | Bloomberg | Financial Times)

OVER IN TECH- President Trump said on Friday the US snapped up a 10% stake in chipmakerIntel for USD 8.9 bn by converting government grants into equity. The transaction came at a discounted share price, lower by USD 4 than Intel’s closing price on Friday, and was preceded by White House demands for CEO Lip-Bu Tan to resign over his ties to Chinese firms.

ALSO- Meta and Google have struck a USD 10 bn cloud computing agreement that will see the Facebook owner use Google Cloud's servers, storage, networking and other services as it looks to bring online more AI services. (Bloomberg | Reuters | CNBC | The Information)

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