Published on: 12-Jun-2023

The Union of Arab Securities Authorities (UASA) Board approved the 17th annual report and financial statements for the year 2022 during its annual meeting held on 01/05/2022. The report presents the most important activities of the members in market regulation and oversight, enforcement, awareness, international cooperation, market development, financial technology, and financial inclusion. The report also included the most prominent work accomplished by the Union and its work plan for 2023, in addition to a set of issues of interest to Arab securities authorities, especially with regards to strengthening aspects of cooperation and coordination among the Union members.

The annual report indicates that the General Secretariat has, within the framework of the pillar of enhancing cooperation between the members of the Union in the field of developing financial markets and facing risks, in cooperation with the work team formed for this purpose, prepared a study on financing small, medium, and micro enterprises, and waiting for Union members comments on the study before publishing the study officially on the Union’s website. The report also indicated that the work team, in cooperation with the General Secretariat of the Union, has also worked on a rules and principles of sustainability of non-banking financial markets, and in the next phase, will work on issuing guiding rules for sustainability in the Arab capital markets. As for the of investor education and awareness and financial inclusion working group, their work has been done in cooperation with the Union’s General Secretariat in issuing a guiding document on investor rights.

With regards to financial technology and cyber risks, the working group formed for this purpose completed the analysis of the results of the questionnaire that was prepared and distributed to the members of the Union, as the questionnaire provided important information about the financial technology sector among the members of the Union. Within this framework, the working group compiles legislations and regulatory frameworks related to financial technology and applicable cybersecurity in order to provide them to members of the Union, as well as in the areas of artificial intelligence and machine learning, guiding principles on the uses of artificial intelligence and machine learning has been conducted as a result of the efforts made in this field. A model for evaluating cyber risks and measuring the commitment of entities subject to the oversight of members has been prepared by the Union’s general secretariat in cooperation with the financial technology cyber risks working group. The Union’s general secretariat has been assigned to share this model with Union members to take what they deem appropriate in this regard.

The UASA, within the framework of the UASA’s strategic plan 2021-2025 objectives, implemented a number of specialized training programs in line with the requirements and training needs of the Union members to contribute to the development of self-regulatory capacities and enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of regulatory authorities in various areas. The training programs specifically targeted the human cadres working in the regulatory authorities at different levels of employment, especially those working in regulatory and supervision aspects of capital markets institutions. Some programs also targeted other entities operating in the capital markets, including exchanges, depository and settlement centres, brokerage firms, listed companies, banks, financial institutions, and other entities related to the capital markets. With regards to achieving harmony and consistency in regulations of the Union members, the work groups of the UASA continued to work on the initiatives of the UASA’s strategic plan for the years 2021-2025, which included various areas including developing capital markets, facing risks, supporting liquidity and sustainability, financial technology, cyber risks, investor education and awareness, and enhancing financial inclusion.

The UASA’s annual report also showed that global markets have witnessed important developments and events that have affected their performance, which were affected by the geopolitical changes resulting from the Russian-Ukrainian war and their repercussions on various global economies, as well as the continuing effects of the crisis resulting from the outbreak of the Corona virus. The global economic growth rates declined, and inflation rates rose to unprecedented levels, prompting the countries of the world to implement deflationary policies to combat inflation and achieve financial stability. In general, this was reflected in the performance of the international financial markets, which lost about a fifth of their value, as this decline is considered the worst since the global crisis in 2008. The year 2022 witnessed a clear decline, which was reflected in global market indicators significantly, as data issued by the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) indicated that the market capitalization of global financial markets reached $98.6 trillion compared to $124.6 trillion in 2021, a decrease of 20.9%. The American markets accounted for about 44.0% of the total global market value, followed by the Asian and Pacific markets with a rate of 32.4%, and the European and Middle East markets by 23.6%.

As for the Arab financial markets, the market value of these markets increased in 2022 compared to its level achieved in 2021, as it amounted to about (3.9) trillion dollars, an increase of 8.1%. The market value of the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) constituted about 68% of the total market value of the Arab financial markets combined, reaching $2.6 trillion at the end of 2022.

The seventeenth annual report can be viewed in both Arabic and English through the following links:

Arabic version
English version