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Islamic Finance News (IFN) returns to Oman with the IFN Oman Forum & Dialogue in partnership with the Capital Market Authority, Sultanate of Oman (Oman CMA) held at the new Grand Millennium Muscat Hotel. The Islamic finance sector in Oman has gone through a commendable growth rate, highlighting the growing prominence of Shariah compliant finance in its economy. Having hosted the IFN Seminar and Dialogue in 2016 together with the Oman CMA.
The Center organized a workshop held in Grand Hormuz Hotel on the new Code of Corporate Governance , with the participation of Chairman and members of the Board of Directors and the executive management of the company VOLTAMP Energy.

The program included and emphasize on the importance of companies and their status and principles for controlling economic institutions’ affairs according to good governance practices that ensure its safe conduct activities and achieve the best levels of performance. The agenda of the program introduced the participants to know the historical roots to establish the concept of governance and how it has become a necessity sought by the company in the conduct of administrative and financial affairs with a review of the experiences of international countries in activating the foundations and principles of corporate governance and their effects in improving their performance and ability to meet the challenges, crises and market volatility.
The workshop program included a definition of the main four bases of corporate governance which are; accountability, transparency, justice and responsibility, under which the six principles of governance come; which are, the general framework , shareholders rights, and equal treatment of shareholders, role of stakeholders, disclosure and transparency, responsibility of the borad, and mechanisms of the Board of Directors, and how governance practices reflect on the operational performance, improve productivity and enhance the efficiency of external capital level of confidence. With regard to the development of the members of the Board of Directors skills, the program included topics related to the nature of the work of the Board and the powers entrusted to it, and the importance of separating the executive management of the Baord and the nature of the structural composition of the Board and the quality of its committees and how they can be members of the Board and its committees shall exercise their powers while avoiding conflicts of interest the program dealt with .
It also reviewed how the formation an effective Board of Directors in a way that contribute to enhance performance and increase efficiency through the appropriate combination of members with their skills and abilities commensurate with the powers entrusted to them. The program also stressed the importance of independent member and how to choose them as the existence of independent members can provide more guarantees for market participants to secure their interests. It has been also identified the importance of the Board 's committees and the definition of the Standing Committees and functional commissions and the considerations that must be introduced when the formation of committees. The program also emphasized the role of the Secretary of the Board of Directors and the method of choosing so .
On the other hand , it devotes a large time of the program to talk about the role of the Board of Directors in developing a strategy and performance monitoring through which the Board can invest the available resources to achieve the company's goals and overtake expected challenges. And also it discussed how to achieve interaction between the Board of Directors and the executive management of the company, and how the governance can contribute to risk management as to talk about many topics related to the role of the Board in the disclosure of information, transparency and the development of systems and mechanisms so as to achieve greater clarity and enhance the level of customer confidence.

The Capital Market Authority organized a virtual Seminar titled “The Role of Financial Technology in the Future of Capital Markets” in collaboration with the Arab Securities Association to discuss the latest developments in the securities markets and the challenge they encounter with regard to financial technology transactions as well as the key regulatory requirements to safeguard the participants.

The seminar included a number of topics the key were how to recover from the impact of the pandemic and how the tech can save the markets in case of any pandemic. The seminar also highlighted the key aspects of the future of Fintech from the regulatory perspective and virtual assets, decentralized financing of the capital markets and other related topics.

 

In continuation of the GCC awareness campaign organized by the GCC securities commissions the Capital Market Authority organized a virtual workshop on reading the financial statements with the participation of citizens and residents in the GCC states. The object of the workshop is to introduce to the participants the tools that help in reading the financial statements emphasizing on the key elements in the financial statements.

The workshop was organized due to the importance of the financial statements in displaying the financial performance of the companies listed in the stock exchange whereas knowing reading the statements is key to investment awareness as sound method for making investment decision in any of the listed companies, and the workshop was part of a package of specialized awareness programs in reading financial statements in October.

The workshop was presented by Ghadeer Mohammed Ridha Hassan, Portfolios Manager, United Securities. The workshop talked a number of topics on the concept of financial statements and their importance besides acquainting the participants with the four pillars of financial statement namely the income statement, financial position, cash flow statement and statement on change in equity. Each of the statements was explained and their key components to analyze to find out the position of the company and how to benefit based on the investment strategy of each investor.

It is worth to note that the GCC awareness program conducted by the CMA in the past two months focused on two main topics, the role of the capital market in the national economy and how to read the financial statements during the period from beginning of September to end of October. Awareness material were distributed to acquaint the community with the importance of the capital market as a source of financing for huge development and investment projects and the financing features of the capital markets whether to the issuers of securities or the investor.

 

CMA concluded the events of its first awareness program for 2017 through an awareness workshop which covered “Early warning indicators relevant to securities activities”.
The workshop covered various aspects, as the most important being:

• Importance of early warning indicators.
• Economic Indicators.
• Indicators related to combined financial positions of listed companies in Boursa Kuwait
• Indicators related to the activity of Boursa Kuwait
• General Index
“ Capital Markets Development in the State of Kuwait” was the title of CMA’s second annual conference. The one-day conference was held on Sunday March 26, 2017 in Sheraton Hotel. It was attended by officials concerned with economy and securities activities, in addition to representatives of listed companies and persons licensed by the CMA.

A number of local, regional and international experts took part in the conference; Mr. Anwar Al-Ghaith - Executive Director for Information Technology & banking operations at Central Bank of Kuwait, Mr. Othman Ibrahim Al-Issa CEO of Kuwait Clearing Company, Mr. Khaled AlKhaled - Vice Chairman and CEO of Boursa Kuwait, and Mr. Mohammad Saud Al-Osaimi - Executive Director/Markets in Boursa Kuwait. Regionally, participants were Mr. Mohamed Alhadari - Deputy CEO of Organizational Services & Support at Securities & Commodities Authority SCA, and Mr. Maged Fanous the Lead Risk and Regulatory Partner for the financial sector with EY MENA region.
The conference consisted of three sessions. The first one was about the Post-Trade Model, the second was entitled “Boursa Kuwait: Challenges and Aspirations, and the last session was about the electronic disclosure language XBRL.
Thus, the CMA announces concluding the events of its annual conference, hoping that it had achieved the required objectives.
It is worth mentioning that the CMA will announce soon the schedule of its specialized workshops to explain the requirements and objectives of the Post-Trade Model and the XBRL that will be executed in the near future.
We would like to draw your attention to the provisions of Article (3-42) of Module Sixteen "Anti-Money Laundering & Combating the Financing of Terrorism" of the Executive Bylaws of Law No. (7) of 2010 regarding the Establishment of the Capital Markets Authority and Regulating Securities Activities and their amendments, pursuant to Resolution No. (72) of 2015 issued on 9/11/2015 which stipulate that the licensed person must verify and pay attention to all business relationships or transactions with clients or with financial institutions from countries that do not apply or insufficiently apply the FATF's recommendations. If the Authority notifies the licensed person that such countries insufficiently apply the FATF's recommendations, the licensed person shall consider all business relationships and transactions conducted in such countries as high-risk ones, which require implementing the measures set in Article No. (3-21) of the same chapter. Accordingly, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has updated the list of countries which do not or insufficiently apply the FATF recommendations in its recent meeting held in June 2017. The CMA is keen to play its role as stipulated in the above mentioned Article.
The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) will hold its fourth annual conference " Capital Market Reforms Through Regional Initiatives" at Badriah ballroom, located at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel and Spa, at 9:00 am on Wednesday January 23, 2019.
The CMA’s approach to holding such annual events started in 2016. An annual conference is held in the first quarter of each year. This presents an opportunity for discussing the most important issues related to the capital markets and securities activities, and the functions of the regulatory bodies along with reviewing the recent updates in the field through the study of leading global cases in the fields mentioned above, which are presented by a selection of international and regional experts and specialists.
The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) started its awareness program for the year 2019 through the opening of its first awareness workshop.
The workshop, presented by Director of Mergers & Acquisitions, at the CMA, and Manager of Acquisition Section, discussed the topic of "Partial Purchase Offer", its definition and nature, in addition to its terms and conditions, and procedures of implementation.
The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) roadshow in UK targeted high-profile UK-based institutional investors, in order to attract more institutional foreign investments, present the latest developments in the Kuwaiti financial markets and to hear their opinions on their investment experience in Kuwait. Many topics were covered, in particular those related to the market upgrade on the MSCI index. All reactions and observations were positive, and all institutions commended the efforts exerted by the parties involved in the market development project and praised the Kuwaiti market high standard of professionalism accomplished in a short time.
Among the highlights were the plans of the parties to implement the Central Counterparty (CCP), which provides better risk management in light of the Market Development Plan that will introduce new, more advanced and sophisticated products such as derivatives. The expected mechanism for joining the index in case of upgrade was also discussed.


As part of its efforts to implement the "Qualifications Examinations Project for Registered Employment Positions”, which was initiated by the CMA on Monday, April 15, 2019, the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) concluded on Thursday, April 25, 2019 The Special Awareness Program for Licensed Persons under the " Qualifications Examinations Project for Registered Employment Positions", which was implemented over the last week (21-25 April) at the CMA’s headquarters, within the framework of the Capital Markets Authority to apply the Qualifications Examinations Project for Registered Employment Positions in cooperation with the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI), in order to ensure the successful implementation of this project in the State of Kuwait.
The program included ten awareness workshops, which lasted for one week, with two workshops a day for the target groups represented by licensed persons at the Capital Markets Authority, where 174 people participated from 79 parties. The workshops included the following topics:
• Objectives of the Professional Qualifications Program (PQP)
• PQP
• The policy of exemption from professional qualifications
• The mechanism of applying the PQP
• Registration procedures for registered employment positions
• Training to pass professional qualifications examinations
• The mechanism for applying for professional qualifications examinations

 


The Capital Markets Authority has held an awareness event concerning Indices and Passive Investing on April 29, 2019, in Kuwait. In his opening speech, Mr. Muthanna Al-Saleh, Head of Markets Sector, mentioned that the CMA is aware of the importance of this matter especially with the marked growth of the passive investing globally and regionally. Mr. Al-Saleh stated that since Kuwait has been of an importance to the world market indicators, there must be a need to learn how these indicators work and affect the capital markets. In addition, he mentioned that many products will be introduced as a part of the market development project, some of which will be based on the markets’ indices.
During the event, S&P Dow Jones representatives made a presentation about markets indices, their types, and the products that are based on them, as well as the procedures that are used to upgrade the markets and the countries in the international indices.
What makes this event more important is that it coincides with the fact that Kuwait has been upgraded in the international shares indices at S&P Dow Jones and FTSE Russell, and it is included on the watch list for the MSCI emerging index. Thus, Kuwait will officially be included in emerging markets indices at S&P Dow Jones in September 2019, and is expecting its inclusion in the emerging markets by MSCI in June 2019, to be officially included in May 2020.

 

The State of Kuwait, represented by the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) and the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK), will participate in the activities of the "World Investor Week Campaign" to be held during the period (October 4-11 of 2021) under the umbrella of the International Organization of Securities Commissions "IOSCO".
The Kuwaiti participation in the campaign’s activities emerge from the keenness of the local supervisory authorities on the active presence in the various activities of international organizations and their regional committees, which enables it to follow the latest developments and keep up with relevant global standards, which is positively reflected on the local economic reality, and reflects Kuwait’s position internationally.
This year's World Investor Week campaign is expected to highlight the importance of raising awareness on four main topics: frauds and scams prevention, sustainable finance, basics of investment, and online investing. It will also introduce the methods and instruments of successful awareness, not only at the level of investors, stakeholders and those interested in investment issues, but also for all segments of society, including youth, women, and future investors, especially in the various educational stages, starting with middle school and ending with university education. These issues are the core of the tasks and concerns of the CMA and the CBK, which recently started joint awareness-raising efforts on several issues aside from joint participation in the activities of this campaign.
Participation in the campaign activities includes broadcasting awareness messages in Arabic and English through various media, in addition to the social media accounts of these two regulatory bodies. As for the campaign messages, which vary in nature between messages specific to the international organization, and others that were the result of a joint preparation between the CMA and the CBK, it aims to raise awareness of those concerned with the financial sector in general, and the securities activities in particular, and focuses mainly on the topics of “frauds and scams prevention” and “sustainable finance.” Without neglecting the other two topics of the campaign related to the basics of investing and e-investing.
Finally, it should be noted that the International Organization of Securities Commissions "IOSCO", which is the supervisory authority on securities markets in the world and includes members from more than 100 countries in the world, has previously launched its unprecedented awareness initiative under the title "World Investor Week" for the first time in 2017, with the aim of raising the level of financial knowledge and enhancing the knowledge of capital market investors. Year after year, the activities of this initiative acquire more importance in exchange for its efforts to educate and protect investors, which is increasingly important in light of the conditions of instability in the global economic situation for nearly two years, as a result of the repercussions of the Corona virus pandemic and the precautionary measures to confront it.

 

The Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) in collaboration with the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) launched a joint financial literacy campaign regarding investing or dealing in crypto assets, or so-called “virtual currencies”.

As part of the Capital Markets Authority’s (CMA) role in the development of the community and national cadre, and the enhancement of their competitiveness to engage in the labor market in the field of capital markets, the CMA has launched its Seventh Training Program for Recent Graduates. A welcoming speech was given by Prof. Ahmad Al-Melhem –Chairman of CMA Board of Commissioners and the Managing Director, in which he praised the national cadres and emphasized that the CMA trusts their eagerness to benefit from the advantages provided by the program. He also stressed the importance of commitment and dedication to hard work and diligence to achieve the CMA’s aspirations to prepare ambitious national personnel to upgrade the national economy.
The program commenced on Sunday 28 November 2021. It will be followed by local and field training program, and then there will be a program abroad. The program attracts distinguished graduates from the following fields: Business Administration, Law, Industrial Engineering. The trainees will undergo an intensive training program in financial and economical fields.
The program’s objective is to train and qualify newly graduated students to qualify national cadres on scientific, professional and technical basis and provide them with the opportunity to view the financial world locally and internationally, in order to qualify them to work in various local and international financial markets.
Through this initiative, the CMA seeks to enhance the professional capabilities of young national cadres and raise awareness on the important role of supervision of capital markets, and emphasizing the role of the CMA’s social responsibility in community development through investing in national cadres.
As part of the efforts of the entities regulating the financial markets in the GCC countries to raise the awareness of the citizens and residents of the GCC countries, and in line with the directions of their highnesses and excellencies the members of the Ministerial Committee of the Chairmen of the Boards of Directors of the entities regulating the financial markets in the GCC countries, an awareness campaign has been launched on the importance of the corporate governance under the slogan of “Effective Governance is the Basis of the Sustainable Development”.
The campaign aims to provide the guidance, regulations, and systems of governance to the board members and officials of the listed companies, avoid the risks related to the companies’ performance and management, emphasize that good governance leads the company to achieving its goals efficiently and effectively, the optimal use of resources and a conscious management to the risks, in addition to preparing a smart strategy to the company’s work.
The corporate governance campaign is directed specifically to several categories that include the board members of the listed companies, the senior officials of the public shareholding companies, the officials of governance and investors relations of listed companies, the prospective shareholders and investors, and persons of interest in general such as the researchers and the media professionals.
The campaign uses several means that include social media networks, satellite channels, newspapers, websites, and webinars. In addition, it provides the contents through a collection of media arts such as infographics, animation, digital publications (brochures and manuals), and informational competitions.
This campaign is an extension of the bonds of cooperation between the GCC countries, especially in the economic matters as the Gulf financial markets are attracting local and international investments.
December 16, the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) conducted a virtual awareness workshop through the virtual conference platform (Webinar) covering the subject of “The Forms of the Corporate Finance and Governance Tasks” that will be launched by the beginning of the next year, in particular on January 2, 2022.
Furthermore, on December 14, 2021, the CMA has invited all the persons dealing in the securities exchange and those concerned with the corporate finance and governance matters to register and participate in this event, which aims to raise the awareness in several aspects related to the mechanisms of meeting the requirements of delivering the services forms relevant to the corporate finance and governance. For example, the mechanism of the general user (primary) to provide other users access to each service and the sequence of its steps. In addition, it raises the awareness of the services related to the corporate finance and the forms of each service such as the forms of dealing in company’s shares, the form of distributing the bonus shares of the shareholding company, the report form of dealing in the company’s treasury shares, and the form of approving the agenda of the of Bondholders or Sukukholders.
Through using the aforementioned electronic system that the CMA started its trial implementation stage on Thursday December 16th and will be extended until the 30th, it seeks to achieve several goals such as simplifying the procedures of dealing with the CMA, reducing the documentary cycle, maintaining confidentiality of information, facilitating the procedures of submitting the forms, and obtaining the services related to corporate finance and governance.
 

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