Seventeenth Annual Meeting of the Union of Arab Securities Authorities

CMA Emphasizes its Support for Unification of Arab Endeavors to Face the Challenges in the Financial Markets

Confirming its endeavor towards joining the legislative, supervisory and regulatory efforts related to the capital market sector in the Arab region, the Sultanate, represented by the Capital Markets Authority, participated in the Seventeenth Meeting of the Board of the Union of Arab Securities Authorities held in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, on Monday, May 1, 2023.

The Sultanate’s delegation was chaired by His Excellency Sheikh Abdullah Salem Al Salmi, Executive President of the Capital Market Authority. The meeting was held within the efforts exerted among member states to enhance cooperation to upgrade the legislative and regulatory levels of Arab financial markets to achieve fairness, competence and transparency, and to work to unify the efforts to reach effective levels of surveillance over the transactions in the markets, in addition to discussing a mechanism for encountering the challenges, changes and developments on the regional and international arenas.

The opening session commenced with the speech of the President of the current session (host), His Excellency Khaled Al-Hamoud, member of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Capital Market Authority, the speech of the President of the Union for the sixteenth session, HE Sheikh Abdullah Al Salmi, Executive President of the Capital Market Authority, and the speech of the General Secretariat delivered by the Secretary-General of the Union, HE Jalil Tarif.

HE Sheikh Abdullah Salem Al Salmi, head of the Sultanate’s delegation, pointed out to the developments and events in the year 2022, which were reflected on the performance of global financial markets that were affected by the geopolitical changes resulting from the Russian-Ukrainian war and its repercussions on various global economies, as well as the continuing effects of the crisis resulting from the outbreak of the Corona virus. Al Salmi said in a statement, "The Arab regulators were able, during the year 2022, in cooperation with the financial markets and governments, to work to overcome the impact of the repercussions of various changes and crisis in financial markets."

He added, the markets continued, during 2022, to achieve significant achievements in the areas of supervision, updating legislations, regulation and enforcement, and setting appropriate frameworks and mechanisms to enhance their regulatory capabilities and developing rules for transparency, disclosure, governance, education and awareness in order to ensure the stability and balance of the financial markets. The member authorities have also been keen to take tangible steps in the areas of development, modernization, skills development, and upgrading the financial systems that govern their business in line with best  international practices and standards, as well as taking the necessary measures to encourage the use of  financial technology to serve the capital markets.”

HE added, “The year 2022, which was the second year of the Union’s strategic plan 2021-2025, witnessed important milestones in the framework of implementing the goals and initiatives of the plan. The members of the Union consolidated their presence in the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) with four  seats  in the board of directors of the organization  including the office  of Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the organization and the presidency of the Growth and Emerging Markets Committee (GEMC), which is the largest committee of the organization, as well as the presidency of the Africa and  Middle East Regional Committee (AMERC) in addition to the office of Vice Chairman of the committee. The past year witnessed close cooperation with a number of Arab, regional and international institutions.

The Board discussed the Union's annual report for the year 2022 and the most important achievements made during the second year of the strategic plan 2021-2025, in addition to reviewing the status of microfinancing. The Board also reviewed the study on the rules and principles of sustainability in non-banking financial markets, in addition to issuing a guiding document on investor rights. The meeting also discussed the issuance of guiding principles on the uses of artificial intelligence and machine learning, and the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (CISI).