CMA, S&P Dow Jones aim to raise awareness about benefits of market indices

KUWAIT: Boursa Kuwait recently participated in a panel discussion, jointly hosted by the Capital Markets Authority and the leading equity index compiler S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI) at the JW Marriott Hotel Kuwait City, with the objective of raising investor awareness about the benefits of market indices for institutional investors. Speaking on the 'Indices and Passive Investing' panel, Noura Al-Abdulkareem, Acting Head of Markets, Boursa Kuwait, highlighted new developments in the Kuwaiti capital market, including upcoming market reclassifications.

Al-Abdulkareem shed light on Boursa Kuwait's ongoing efforts to developing a sound capital market that offers promising opportunities to local and foreign institutional investors. Driven by its ambitious market development strategy, the company has focused on infrastructural upgrades, regulatory reforms, and diversification of offerings to improve the business environment, expand its issuer and investor bases, and increase the depth and breadth of its products.

Stressing on Boursa Kuwait's relentless commitment to transforming itself as an attractive destination for investment, Al-Abdulkareem said the stock exchange has placed significant emphasis on providing investors with liquid and transparent benchmarks of the different markets, to enable them to track and grow their investments. She said the inclusion of Boursa Kuwait in the FTSE Russell Emerging Markets Index in May 2018 and the forthcoming market status reclassifications by S&P DJI and the global index compiler MSCI are a true reflection of the company's commitment to all market participants.

MSCI has announced that it will consider the re-classification of Boursa Kuwait's market status in its 2019 Annual Market Classification Review set to take place in June. If approved, the Exchange's status will be upgraded from the current Frontier Market to the Emerging Market in 2020. The company is also gearing up for the inclusion of its index to S&P Dow Jones Indices' Global Equity Indices with the Emerging Market status later this year.

As part of its market development plans, the company has also launched several initiatives, including a new rulebook, which helped the company specify new three-tiered market segments, In addition, the company has introduced the Over-the-Counter (OTC) trading platform to enable investors to trade unlisted securities with greater transparency. Furthermore, Boursa Kuwait has recently launched a trading platform for Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), introduced the trade at last session, and stock swaps and tender offer facilities as part of its third phase of market developments.