ANALYSIS-Saudi corp bond market needs sovereign, new laws

Saudi Arabia's first corporate bond market is unlikely to become a success without a sovereign bond and the removal of legal obstacles, even if Gulf issuances are slowly picking up.

The launch of the Gulf's third bond trading platform after Bahrain and Nasdaq Dubai comes when troubles at several Saudi family-controlled firms are making headlines, underlining the problems of opacity of financial markets in the biggest Arab economy.

Last month, the world's largest oil exporter launched a secondary trading platform for conventional and Islamic bonds, or sukuk, the latest step to open up after allowing foreigners limited ownership on the Saudi bourse a year ago.