RIYADH: The Saudi Central Bank, also known as SAMA, will start using Bloomberg’s auction system for repo, reverse rep, and open market operations from January 2022.

The bank had announced in 2018 the completion of the development of the SAMA Bills and Murabaha issuance system using Bloomberg, it said on Dec. 30.

The system aims to provide a safe and secure environment to issue and buy back debt, and perform other open market operations including repo and reverse repo auctions, all from a single integrated platform.

“This collaboration with Bloomberg marks the next stage in developing the central bank’s operations,” said the bank’s Vice Governor Ayman Alsayari. “The increased efficiency of liquidity management operations will have a positive impact on the banking sector.”

“It also aligns with international best practice in liquidity management through electronic trading,” he said.

Bloomberg’s auction system is part of its enterprise solution for central banks and government financial agencies, and is used by market participants to track auction tenders electronically and enter bids.