Unified Arab Stock Exchange: nucleus for common market
Regional, Economics, 9/21/2004

After three years of legislative and technical preparations, the Unified Arab Bourse will start its activities as of January, said Mohamed Abdul Salam, Chairman of Cairo and Alexandria Stock Exchanges (CASE).

Addressing a press conference after the winding up of the Arab bourses and financial markets meetings, he noted that the Smart Village in Cairo was selected to be the premises of the Arab Stock Exchange Board.

Moreover, the constitutional committee of the project has finalized the rules of registering companies in the Arab bourse as well as membership, clearance and settlement systems, pertaining to the dealings which will take place in the unified Arab stock exchange, he added.

An agreement was reached on evaluating the prices of stocks to be registered in the Bourse in accordance with the euro or the US dollar exchange rates with the aim of unifying the form of circulation, the CASE Chairman said.

He added that "Arabic" will be the official language for circulation and disclosure in the Bourse, in addition to the "English" language. He also pinpointed that the unified Arab bourse is considered a nucleus for the Arab economic unity, given its role in activating the Arab capital markets and investments through exchanged registration of securities.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Capital Market Authority (CMA) Abdul Hamid Ibrahim said that the unified Arab stock exchange will have a special board. This in addition to forming a committee of the Arab capital markets, aiming to seek active and high liquidity companies to register in the new bourse, he added. The FG HERMES will play the role of financier and promoter for the new unified bourse, Ibrahim further said.

On his part, Secretary General of the Union of Arab Bourses Saafak Al-Rkaibi said that Egypt Clearing Company was selected for the operation of the unified bourse during the first years in respect to the circulation system. Moreover, HSBC Bank was designated to carry out the settlement operations as well as the financial dealings in the Arab bourse, he added.

Rkaibi pointed out that the unified Arab bourse will be independent and will have its own conditions for enlisting the companies and dealing with financial brokers. He referred to the possibility of resorting to a foreign partner from the global stock exchanges to underwrite and provide the necessary finance for the Arab bourse.

The Arab bourses and financial markets meetings were held over two days in Cairo last week with the attendance of board chairmen and representatives of a number of Arab bourses, capital markets and clearance companies including Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon and Oman.

It is worth noting that the Union of Arab Bourses was created in 1981 at the initiative of the governors of the central banks in Kuwait, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Morocco, Tunisia and Bahrain.

Previous Stories:
  Finance Experts: Unified ME stock exchange a must   (9/16/2004)
  Arab economic entity emerges as a top-notch demand   (6/2/2004)
  Arabs invest about $ 800 million abroad and $ 10 million in Arab states   (12/15/2003)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search