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Title: The Capital Markets Authority Participates in the 22nd Meeting of the Committee of Heads of Capital Markets Authorities (or their equivalent) in the GCC Countries, and the 3rd Meeting with the Heads of Markets (Securities Exchanges)
Kuwait, April 12, 2021 - The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) has participated in the 22nd meeting of the Committee of Heads of Capital Markets Authorities (or their equivalent) in the GCC countries, on Sunday, April 11, 2021, represented by Prof. Ahmad A. AlMelhem - Chairman of CMA Board of Commissioners and Managing Director, through visual communication technology as the pandemic continues (COVID 19).
This periodic meeting among the member states aimed to follow up developments of the bodies regulating capital markets. The meeting was chaired by His Excellency Mr. Rasheed M. Al Maraj - Governor of the Central Bank of Bahrain (Chairing State - Kingdom of Bahrain) with the participation of the Assistant Secretary General for Economic and Development Affairs of GCC General Secretariat Mr. Khalifa Bin Saeed Al-Abri, and their Excellencies, the heads of the boards of directors and the GCC General Secretariat, and they are: Her Excellency / Maryam Al Suwaidi, Securities & Commodities Authority (UAE), His Excellency / Abdul Rahman Al Baker - Executive Director - Central Bank of Bahrain - Kingdom of Bahrain, His Excellency / Youssef Al-Blaihed - Vice Chairman of the Capital Market Authority Board - Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, His Excellency / Abdullah Al-Salmi - CEO of the Capital Market Authority - Sultanate of Oman, His Excellency / Nasser bin Ahmed Al Shaibi - CEO of the Qatar Financial Markets Authority - State of Qatar.
The meeting commenced by mentioning the decisions of the Ministerial Committee of the Boards of Directors’ heads of Financial Markets Regulators in its ninth meeting last September, which resulted in several recommendations, including the adoption of initiatives that will contribute in strengthening coordination between the bodies regulating financial markets, such as: studying the framework for mutual recognition (passporting), the inter-licensing initiative for investment funds and their related services, account opening requirements and unifying procedures for the Know Your Client (KYC) principle, dual listing of companies and funds in the Gulf markets, as well as listing and trading of bonds and sukuk in the Gulf markets. Additionally, the Ministerial Committee recommended setting a timetable for the implementation of these initiatives.
The secretariat also reviewed the most prominent developments in the implementation of the decisions of the Committee of Heads of Authorities at its 21st meeting last September, which included preparing a framework for inter-licensing of products and investment tools, imposing fees on inter-licensing funds wishing to promote their units, implementing joint investment awareness campaigns and unifying the name of the campaign under the name "Mulem", which launched in November 2020. The State of Kuwait prepared a detailed plan for the second awareness campaign, which was launched in January 2021, on identifying the risks that the investor faces in the financial market, updating Know Your Client (KYC) form by CMA Kuwait according to the observations of the member states, holding the annual workshop on trading oversight, which will discuss the issue of derivatives control in September 2021.
Moreover, the third meeting of the Committee of Heads of Capital Markets Authorities was held with the heads of markets (securities exchanges), and it dealt with the issue of unifying the investor number and trading license among shareholders of the GCC countries, in addition to discussing licensing and trading of intermediaries between GCC countries using the (passporting) system, and an automated study for the central clearing of capital markets (electronic link between markets and the clearing).
In conclusion, it was agreed to set the date of September 13, 2021, as the next date for the meeting of the Committee of heads of Authorities, provided that September 14, 2021 would be the meeting of the Ministerial Committee.
Ends-
Notes to Editors:
The Capital Markets Authority was established pursuant to Law No. 7/2010, approved by the Kuwaiti Parliament in February 2010. Pursuant to the Law, the CMA shall regulate and supervise the securities activities, achieve transparency and fairness, observe listed companies’ execution of Corporate Governance regulations, and protect investors from unfair practices which violate the CMA's Law.
Furthermore, the Law's provisions stipulate the supervision of mergers, acquisitions, and disclosure operations. The CMA also aims to provide awareness programs related to securities activities.
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