The last time (also the first time) a companies law was promulgated in the Kingdom was 1965 - a time when the average global price for a barrel of crude oil was USD 1.80 (USD 13.55 adjusted to 2015 prices), the oil shocks of the 1970s were in the future, the Gulf Cooperation Council had not yet been established and the internet was firmly in the realm of science fiction.  

The old law has served Saudi Arabia through a period of transition - being the basis for company regulation during a period which has seen extensive and accelerating inward investment in the country together with the launch (in 1994) and subsequent reinvigoration (in 2007) of Tadawul - the domestic Saudi stock exchange.   

However, what worked in 1965 is not necessarily fit-for-purpose in an era of global financial connectivity, volatility and fragility, shareholder activism and burgeoning corporate governance scandals.