Brokerage firms, investment companies, bank staff attend forum

KUWAIT: Panelists on the floor of the CMA conference in Sheraton Hotel, Kuwait yesterday. — Photos ny Joseph Shagra

KUWAIT: The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) held its second annual conference titled 'Capital Markets' Development in the State of Kuwait' yesterday, attended by representatives of brokerage companies, investment companies, bank employees and other related staff. Dr Nayef Al-Hajraf, Chairman of the Board of Commissioners of CMA, welcomed the attendees, saying CMA fulfilled its promise to hold this conference annually in the same period. "This is the second consecutive year of the conference. We held it in the first quarter of the year like last year to discuss the most important issues related to CMA's duties and stock exchange activities," he said.

Since the conference that was held last year, many new local stock exchange activities have taken place. "During the previous conference, we announced our intention to develop the capital market, which cannot be executed without compliance with applied international standards and adopting best practices," added Hajraf.

Boursa Kuwait

"Last year, the Kuwait Stock Exchange was transferred from a public institution into a shareholding company. This company is directed according to private sector rules, and since October 2016, it's managed by the Boursa Kuwait Company. Another significant event was applying governance rules starting from June 30, which assures applying best international practices that are similar to international markets. Furthermore, CMA last year issued resolution no. 72/2016 about applying the post-trade model," he pointed out.

"Today's conference sheds light on the achievements of the compliance with applied international standards, in addition to the future tendency on this issue to achieve strategic goals. The strategic plans of CMA sets the base for a leading regional experience that is beyond the regular tools of the monitoring authorities of stock exchange that is usually limited to licensed individuals and investors of all categories," Hajraf said.

He concluded by saying that the National Project of Strengthening Financial Culture that is executed by CMA aims to spread the financial culture among various categories, especially in the educational field, starting from school up to university. "This strategic project will qualify future generations to work in this field and meet the needs of local market".

The first session was on the 'Post-Trade Model' (PTM), where four speakers gave presentations - Muthanna Al-Saleh, Head of the Markets Sector at CMA on the 'Final Post Trade Model'; Anwar Al-Ghaith, Executive Director, Information Technology and Banking Operations Sector at the Central Bank on 'Central Bank of Kuwait and Commercial Banks' Role in PTM'; Othman Al-Issa, CEO of Kuwait Clearing Company on 'The Kuwait Clearing Company's Strategy in Light of the Final Form of PTM'; and Emine Ebru Akbulut, Deputy Head of the Intermediary Activities Department of the Capital Markets Board of Turkey, who presented a 'Review of the Turkish Experience of PTM'.

The second session was titled 'Boursa Kuwait; Challenges and Aspirations'. Two speakers gave presentations in this session - Khaled Al-Khaled, Vice Chairman and CEO, Boursa Kuwait Securities Company and Mohammad Al-Osaimi, Executive Director, Markets Sector, Boursa Kuwait Securities Company, both discussing Boursa Kuwait's strategic initiatives.

The third session was on the 'CMA XBRL Based Electronic Filling Platform' (IFSAH). It was presented by John Turner, CEO, XBRL International, who spoke about the 'Advantages of Using XBRL for Business Reporting in Capital Markets'; Mohammed Al-Hadari, Deputy CEO for Organizational Services and Support - Securities and Commodities Authority (UAE), who spoke on the 'UAE Experience in Implementing XBRL Based Electronic Filling Platform'; and Abdullah Al-Terkait, Manager of the IFSAH project at CMA, who spoke on the 'Overview of the CMA XBRL Based Electronic Filling Platform'.

By Nawara Fattahova