Nomura's Laser Digital helps launch Saudi SME credit vault targeting $100 million on BNB Chain

Nomura's digital assets subsidiary Laser Digital is expanding its tokenization push into Saudi Arabian private credit, with partner ZIG Finance launching an onchain investment vehicle targeting a $100 million raise.

Dubbed the zEMS Vault, the product gives eligible institutional investors exposure to a diversified pool of Saudi small and medium-sized enterprise loans originated through Beehive's lending infrastructure, according to a statement shared with The Block. 

Investors can subscribe to and redeem their positions in stablecoins, with KAIO handling tokenization and administration of the vault throughout its lifecycle on BNB Chain. The platform also enforces KYC checks at both entry and redemption, while Zamanat structures the investment and provides Sharia advisory.

ZIG Finance said Laser Digital will serve as the vault's risk framework advisor, helping design its risk governance structure and providing tokenization advisory. 

"The aim isn't to remove credit risk. It's to make that risk transparent and manageable," ZIG Finance co-founder Abdul Rafay Gadit said. "We see this vault as a way to open a deeper pool of institutional capital to Saudi private credit, with the potential to build on that model across other emerging markets.”

Saudi lending as the starting point

The zEMS Vault is the first product under the strategic partnership between ZIG Finance and Laser Digital. The companies intend to apply the same structure to other emerging markets and credit strategies, pairing local lenders with institutional risk governance, compliant tokenization, and onchain distribution. Further opportunities across the region and other asset classes are already under consideration, the statement said. 

Meanwhile, the launch adds to Laser Digital's institutional investment product business, which includes a tokenized Bitcoin Diversified Yield Fund launched in January through KAIO.

The firm also received conditional approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in May to establish a national trust bank, subject to pre-opening requirements. Its proposed services include stablecoin intermediation, collateral management, and multi-asset custody.