Experts see time apt to privatise Arab bourses

Mohammad Hourani

AMMAN — It is time for privatisation of Arab stock exchanges and cross-borders trading that will help exchanges grow at current difficult regional conditions, financial markets experts said Wednesday.

Around 70 per cent of the exchanges across the world are currently privatised and for-profit and this is the trend. Therefore, it is the time for Arab exchanges to move forward towards privatisation, Marwan Batayneh, chairman of the board of directors of the Amman Stock Exchange, said at the opening of the Arab Federation of Exchanges Annual Conference 2016 in Amman.

"Moving ahead towards privatisation should be done in line with well-studied and regulated manner," added Batayneh at the conference, which attracted industry representatives from several countries across the world.

In a speech delivered on behalf of Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour, Jordan Securities Commission Chief Commissioner Mohammad Hourani said maximum levels of cooperation between exchanges are needed at this stage to overcome challenges.

Stressing that exchanges play a key role in boosting economic growth, Hourani added that financial media also needs to play a constructive not a destructive role, which helps ensure transparency and objectivity.

There are 16 exchanges in the Arab world with variations in sizes of each one, he continued, stressing that electronic linkage of these exchanges is a necessity and will help boost investment and trading.

In a session at the event, Bart Chilton, senior policy advisor at DLA Piper LLP (US), stressed the importance of adopting financial technologies in exchanges, which he said plays an important role in advancing them.

This, however, should be done in tandem with the regulators, he added, noting that financial technologies are going to be disruptive.

Several topics on challenges facing exchanges in the region and globally, as well latest solutions and trends are going to be discussed during the two-day event.