DOHA: GCC states are moving closer to having unified rules for listing of stocks and conventional and Islamic bonds on their equity exchanges as part of plans to integrate their capital markets.
Regulations for listing and operation of mutual and other funds and launch of share promotions are also being unified as part of the integration agenda.
Rules and regulations for integration are ready and have been agreed upon in principle, Qatar News Agency (QNA) said yesterday.
A memorandum of understanding is likely to be inked by capital market regulators of the six member-states. It is expected to take place at a meeting of the Ministerial Committee of GCC Capital Market Boards’ chairmen (head of capital markets’ regulatory bodies) which continues in Kuwait.
This is fifth meeting in a series and was addressed by the Chairman of the Board of Commissioners of Kuwait Capital Markets Authority, Dr Nayef Al Hajraf, yesterday. “(Arab) Gulf capital markets’ integration is top on our agenda,” Al Hajraf was quoted by QNA as saying.
He was speaking at the meeting on behalf of Kuwait’s Minister for Commerce and Industry, Abdulmohsen Al Madaj.
The idea of integration is to bolster in a big way investments in stocks, bonds, sukuk and other instruments from within and outside the GCC.
Integrated capital markets in the GCC will mean that GCC citizens will be able to freely invest in the capital markets of the region, said Abdullah Al Shebli, Assistant Secretary of the GCC for Economic Affairs.
He was addressing the meeting on behalf of the Secretary-General of the GCC, Abdullatif Al Zayani. Al Hajraf said that the heads of regulatory bodies of the capital markets of the GCC states had met last September and proposed that the unified rules for listing, etc., be implemented as part of a pilot project to assess their practicability.
“We can finalise these unified rules and regulations after assessing whether they are suitable or not,” he pointed out.
According to Al Hajraf, there is a proposal to hold a meeting between central bank governors of the GCC states and heads of capital market regulatory bodies on the above matter.
The Peninsula
