What's changed in the Saudi CMA qualification exams (CME)

The series hasn't changed since February 2023

The ten papers and the role mapping are the ones the Saudi CMA announced on 7 November 2022 and made mandatory from 1 February 2023, and people who passed earlier CMEs stay eligible to register (CMA announcement). This guide found no later CMA announcement that adds or retires a paper or changes which roles need which papers, and the CMA's CME page, last modified on 19 June 2025, announces no change (CMA CME page). It found no announced change to fees or exam rules either. The FA's exam policy carries no effective date, so its rules can't be dated (FA exam policy).

The CMA sets the requirement and registers people; the Financial Academy (FA) runs the exams, including booking, fees, centres, study material, policy and Hadaf; CISI provides the A papers and works with the FA on the B papers. The CME guide covers the papers themselves.

Dated log

Where a row names a resolution, its date is the one printed on the regulation's cover. The International Introduction is the CISI qualification behind CME-1A, Global Financial Compliance is behind 2A, Securities behind 3A, ICWIM (the International Certificate in Wealth and Investment Management) behind 4A and Corporate Finance Technical Foundations behind 5A.

The fund regulations changed twice in 2025

The Investment Funds Regulations and the Real Estate Investment Funds Regulations, which carry 88% of CME-4B's weight (FA CME-4B page), were amended in May and again in November 2025.

The first amendment, Resolution 1-54-2025, is dated 23/11/1446H: that is 21 May 2025, not 23 November. The CMA announced it on 9 July 2025 (CMA news). Its main changes:

• fund units may be distributed through fund distribution platforms and SAMA-licensed e-money institutions
• new rules on terminating funds and on replacing or withdrawing a fund manager
• REITs listed on Nomu may invest in development projects
• public funds may subscribe to privately offered Saudi debt
• money-market and capital-protection funds are limited to 10% of net asset value in one issuer's debt and 25% in total in one entity
• public debt funds must disclose the ratings of their top ten holdings each quarter
• retail cash subscriptions in private and foreign funds are capped at 50%

The second, Resolution 1-135-2025 of 24 November 2025, is on the covers of the current texts (IFR; REIF). No CMA page this guide checked names its subject. The texts were posted on 26 November 2025, the day the CMA widened the Nomu investor base (CMA news), and they limit Parallel Market offers of exchange-traded funds, closed-ended traded funds and REITs to "Qualified Investors on the Parallel Market" (IFR Articles 48(p) and 49(k); REIF Article 46(b)). It probably brought that reform into the fund regulations, but the CMA hasn't confirmed this.

Not published: when either amendment took effect. The CMA's July 2025 announcement gives no date, and the texts say only that they take effect as set by their approval resolution (IFR Article 113, REIF Article 55).

Official pages disagree: The CMA's server still holds the May 2025 texts under similar file names, and their covers show Resolution 1-54-2025 as the latest amendment (REIF, May 2025 text; IFR, May 2025 text in Arabic). The November texts show 1-135-2025. Study the November 2025 texts, and identify any version by the resolution number on its cover, never by its file name.

Two other rules the B papers test haven't changed since the series began. The Market Conduct Regulations, 12% of CME-4B, were last amended on 25 January 2021 by Resolution 2-11-2021 (Market Conduct Regulations). The Securities Business Regulations, tested in CME-1B, were last amended on 12 August 2020 by Resolution 2-75-2020 (Securities Business Regulations).

Study-material windows

Each edition of the study material covers a window of exam dates. CISI dates its A-paper editions by language, so Arabic and English candidates can sit different editions at the same time (CISI candidate update). The linked editions below are printed on the covers of the workbooks the FA links.

The FA ties study material to exam dates: if you move to a date covered by newer material, it treats the booking as a new exam and gives you the new material (FA exam policy, CISI rules). Study the edition linked on the FA exam page for your booked date.

Not published: the editions that follow these windows. The English CME-1A window ended on 9 September 2026, yet on 28 October 2026 the FA still linked that edition, and CISI's page lists no English edition of the International Introduction. No 2027 version of the B-paper workbooks has been announced, and the FA's exam pages carry no edition labels. The FA publishes no rule on which version of a regulation each paper tests.

Opening Bell's Pass+ members get an email explaining each CMA rule change that affects their paper.