GBM Recap: Electronification will transform the Middle East fixed income market

The Global Banking & Markets (GBM) Middle East 2025 event highlighted the trends driving the region's remarkable success in the bond market and the role electronification will play in the coming years.

The GBM event held in Dubai this May hosted more than 10,000 investors, issuers and buyside and continued the theme of optimism and growth in the region, with strong levels of interest, energy and openness among those who came together to explore global deal-making.

Prior to the event, S&P Global partnered with the Gulf Capital Market Association to invite key stakeholders in the region to participate in a closed-doors session focusing on the fixed income primary markets. The engaging discussion touched on the success of the region's credit and fixed income market and the tailwinds likely to propel it forward in the coming years. Among these trends is the growing global interest in issuance from the region, the shift from secondary to primary markets as a source of alpha and the adoption of technology to electronify key elements of the issuance lifecycle.

Primed for growth

In spite of recent global market volatility, the Middle East's fixed income market remains active, with Gulf issuers planning more debt sales, including a $925 billion sovereign wealth fund in Saudi Arabia. With opportunities in place and investor interest remaining strong, the region needs to embrace the technologies that support credit and bond issuance at scale.

A slower technology adoption rate has turned into an unexpected advantage for banks in the region. Unburdened by the legacy systems and processes that complicate and delay the implementation of new technology, these institutions now have an opportunity to surge ahead of their global peers on a wave of next-generation solutions, including technologies powered by AI and decentralized systems.

Global electronification

With issuance accelerating in the Middle East, the opportunity to streamline processes and electronify workflows is being taken up quickly by banks in the region.

In 2024, S&P Global's IssueNet, a platform that synchronizes bookbuilding across syndicate desks, was used by 35 clients in this region to close 160+ deals valued at 220+ billion. While this is only 15% of the 240 clients supported worldwide, it represents a healthy proportion of the 240+ clients (95+% of the market) that now use the platform.

With the rapid growth of the fixed income market in the region, we expect to see continued interest in technologies that support the complex process of bringing fixed-income products to market. Our commitment to this asset class spans an integrated technology ecosystem that includes solutions for primary order management, buyside deal management, buyside-to-sellside connectivity and issuer-to-bank connectivity.

Key benefits

For banks and buysides in the Middle East, electronifying the fixed income workflow delivers a return on the investment that goes well beyond process efficiencies.

Transparency. With platforms such as IssueNet, IssueBook and Investor Access, banks can run an issue with bidirectional communication across issuers and investors, who can then consume debt issuance information live and post those orders back to the bank for allocation.

Data-driven insights. When the entire issuance lifecycle is electronified, banks can capture valuable data about process efficiency and performance that can be used to offer differentiated services to issuers, investors and asset managers.

Connectivity. The globalisation of debt has spurred a growing interest in Sukuk bonds and other issuance from the Middle East, with a trillion dollars of debt planned this year alone. Technologies such as Investor Access put those opportunities in front of 700+ investors worldwide.

Partnership. The key to continued growth and efficiency is the drive towards partnership, both with clients and third parties. Integrations with partners such as Bloomberg show a clear desire to provide the market with one interconnected ecosystem that benefits all market participants.

Scaling up for the future

This is an exciting time for the fixed income market in the Middle East. The GBM event showed the strong global interest in the region's bond and credit products and offered a compelling glimpse into the region's future. Building on its reputation as a hub of innovation with a favorable regulatory environment, the Middle East can accelerate the path to success by adopting mature, proven technologies to electronify the issuance lifecycle.