The Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) held a meeting with the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), the Dubai Financial Market (DFM), and the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX) chaired by its Chief Executive Officer His Excellency Dr. Obaid Al Zaabi. The virtual meeting discussed matters pertaining to financial market developments and the alignment of SCA’s strategy with those of the ADX, DFM, and DGCX, in addition to proposals that help to raise performance by facilitating listings and the introduction of new financial instruments and products that attract more investors.
The meeting also discussed developments related to the licensing of SCA’s new financial activities and the integrated financial services company model as well as other developments related to central clearing counterparty (CCP). It also reviewed the precautionary measures and actions taken by SCA and the financial markets to deal with the negative impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on the securities sector in the country.
The meeting examined mechanisms to align and integrate SCA’s strategy with those of the ADX, DFM, and DGCX and the developments of SCA’s new licensing system, made as part of its legislative restructuring project. The discussions also revolved around the procedures proposed to increase the volume of trading and financial market capitalization in addition to issues pertaining to consolidated accounts, such as regulating registered and beneficial owners due to the significance of this matter in upgrading the markets on international indicators.
It is worth mentioning that SCA has been working relentlessly since the coronavirus outbreak with financial market institutions and other regulatory authorities to promote the stability of financial markets through a range of packages to ensure the continuity of business in the financial markets sector and to contain the consequences of the pandemic, including amending the limit down on share prices to 5 percent, reiterating that short selling is not permitted, facilitating buybacks for listed companies, approving remote general meetings of public joint stock companies and electronic voting on resolutions, granting companies a 45-day grace period to disclose the 2019 audited annual financial statements, and postponing the disclosure of the first quarter of this year to be disclosed together with the second quarter disclosures.