Saudi businesses need financing. Institutional investors want ways to access private credit. ZIG Finance is trying to connect the two through a tokenized investment product that accepts stablecoins.
The company announced the zEMS Vault on November 11, targeting a $100 million raise for exposure to a diversified pool of Saudi small and medium-sized enterprise private credit. The product runs on BNB Chain, with loans originated through Beehive's lending infrastructure.
Laser Digital, Nomura's digital-assets subsidiary, advises on the risk framework and tokenization structure. Its involvement does not mean Nomura or Laser Digital guarantees the loans or investors' returns.
What investors are buying
The vault gives eligible institutional investors exposure to Saudi SME credit through a tokenized structure. It does not give them direct ownership of the underlying assets. Subscriptions and redemptions are available in stablecoins, subject to the product's terms and eligibility controls.
The $100 million figure is a fundraising target, not capital already committed or assets already managed. ZIG Finance also describes a broader ambition to reach at least $100 million in total value locked across multiple product launches. Those are related targets, not two completed raises.
The announcement does not disclose a target yield, minimum subscription or a detailed redemption timetable. Investors would need the offering documents to assess those terms alongside fees, liquidity and borrower exposure.
In a November 9 post, ZIG Finance emphasized the importance of identifying who sources, selects and distributes an investment. The new vault makes those responsibilities particularly relevant.
Post from @ZIGFinanceView the original post on X↗
Who does what
Several firms sit between the Saudi businesses borrowing money and the investors providing capital.
| Participant | Role described in the announcement |
|---|---|
| Beehive | Loan origination through its lending infrastructure |
| ZIG Finance | Vault curation; responsibility for credit selection and risk management alongside the relevant originator |
| Laser Digital | Risk-framework design support and tokenization advisory |
| Zamanat | Investment structuring and Sharia advisory |
| KAIO | Tokenization, compliance and lifecycle management, including KYC at subscription and redemption |
The issuer is a segregated portfolio of ZM Structured Products SPC Limited in the British Virgin Islands. Merritt Administrators, trading as ZIG Finance, acts as curator and is an authorized financial-services provider in South Africa.
The release says Khalij is expected to serve as the Sharia certification partner and an independent calculation agent will be appointed separately. Those planned roles should not be read as completed appointments.
Nomura's involvement does not remove borrower risk
Laser Digital's role is specific. Its disclosure says it has not reviewed or assigned a credit or risk rating to individual loans or borrowers. Responsibility for selecting credit and managing risk remains with ZIG Finance and the relevant originator.
That distinction matters because a recognizable institutional partner can help develop the structure without underwriting its economic outcome. Borrowers can still fail to repay, and a tokenized wrapper does not make an illiquid loan immediately saleable.
The launch announcement explicitly separates better risk governance from the elimination of risk.
“The aim isn’t to remove credit risk. It’s to make that risk transparent and manageable.”
— Abdul Rafay Gadit, Co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer, ZIG Finance
The product is intended for eligible institutional investors in selected jurisdictions. The supplied disclosures exclude access for U.S. persons and people located in or resident in the United States, Canada or Australia, as well as other restricted jurisdictions.
The exit matters as much as the entry
Using stablecoins may simplify the movement of subscription and redemption money. It does not, by itself, establish how quickly the underlying loans can be converted into cash.
ZIG Finance made liquidity a focus of its November 8 post ahead of KAIO's Tokenisation Leaders Summit in London. For a private-credit vehicle, investors need to examine redemption windows, available liquidity and what happens when borrowers or markets come under stress.
Post from @ZIGFinanceView the original post on X↗
The vault is not a deposit, is not principal-protected and carries the possibility of losing the entire investment. Its investment documents, rather than the token's transfer mechanism, determine what investors can claim and when.
This is a different form of onchain asset access from the RWA perpetuals platform DeepSigma is developing, where users would trade derivatives linked to traditional markets. zEMS instead packages private-credit exposure for a restricted institutional audience.
For ZIG Finance and its partners, Saudi SME lending is intended to become a repeatable starting point. The companies say other markets and credit strategies are under consideration. Actual capital raised, loan performance and the experience of redeeming an investment will be the more useful measures of progress.
Reporting by Sasha Steenkamp
