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Under the patronage of His Excellency Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, the World Exchange Congress today concluded its activities. The Congress, which has been held for two days in Doha, witnessed active participation of more than 300 top financial and corporate officials from around 50 countries.
At the opening of the second day activities, HE Sheikh Fahad bin Faisal Al Thani, Deputy Governor of Qatar Central Bank (QCB) and Vice Chairman of Qatar Financial Markets Authority (QFMA), delivered a speech in which he talked about the strategy and role of regulatory authorities in the financial markets sector in the State of Qatar. He stressed that the strategy aims to create a vigorous and effective financial regulatory framework that would support economic prosperity and financial stability in the State of Qatar, and establish a robust infrastructure for the financial services industry in line with the best international standards and practices.
"Despite the fact that the launch of such a strategy was in December 2013, the Qatar Central Bank has begun to take actual steps since 2011 in line with the Qatar's National Development Strategy 2011-2016," HE Sheikh Fahad added.
He stated that "Law No. (8) of 2012 the QFMA has been issued to give the QFMA wider responsibilities and obligations to supervise and monitor the securities industry in the state of Qatar through focusing on four strategic pillars that are (1) protect investors, (2) ensure fair and efficient financial markets, (3) enhance transparency, proficiency as well as awareness and markets integrity, and (4) constrict misleading information and deceptive conduct affecting financial products and services."
H.E the Deputy QCB Governor expressed his satisfaction with the efforts made by the QFMA to transform the Qatari securities market into a regional hub for financial services. He added the obtaining of the IOSCO full membership by the QFMA, the upgrade of the Qatari market into emerging market status, and the obtaining of the WFE full membership by Qatar Stock Exchange clearly indicate the recognition of the achievements and structure of the Qatari financial and securities markets in relation with regulatory framework, integrity and surveillance.
Today's activities included various lectures and discussion panels on various topics such as the lecture given by Dr. Christian A. Katz, President of the Federation of European Securities Exchanges (FESE), on the European market structure; the case study presented by Lodwick Sobolewski, CEO of the Bucharest Stock Exchange, on shaping the capital market of Romania; and the speech presented by Mr. Jalil Tarif, Secretary General of the Union of Arab Securities Authorities, under the title "Arab capital markets, regulatory framework: Recent achievements and failure challenges". In addition to that, numerous workshops and panel discussions were held and discussed various technical, advisory and regulatory issues.
His Excellency Mr. Ali Shareef Al Emadi, Minister of Finance, delivered a speech in the Congress opening ceremonies and expressed his hope that this occasion would provide the participants with the opportunity to adopt the best practices aimed at ensuring an investment-supportive environment through partnerships, mutual cooperation and exchange of expertise
Mr. Rashid bin Ali Al Mansoori, CEO of Qatar Exchange, delivered a speech in the opening cermonies, in which he highlighted the achievements of Qatar's stock market over the past few years as part of its quest to transform the Qatari securities market into a world-class exchange working in line with the world's best practices and enjoying advanced systems, laws and regulations to promote transparency and provide investors with proper and diversified investment tools.
In his speech, Mr. Al-Mansoori added that: "Over the past few years, Qatar Stock Exchange has achieved significant growth since its inception. It is now a well-established national institution that offers various investment opportunities for local and international investors. Qatar Stock Exchange has become the link between listed companies and individual investors who realize that the stock market represents a saving and investment destination at the same time".
Mr. Al-Mansoori stated that "the MSCI and S&P decisions to upgrade the Qatari market from a Frontier to Emerging Market status clearly and evidently reflect the recognition of the prominent international investment institutions of the positive steps made by Qatar Exchange over the past years, in terms of the development of the market infrastructure and the implementation of a number of important projects and initiatives, which were welcomed by the international financial and investment institutions. It is to be noted that the upgrade of Qatar status reflects meeting the qualitative requirements for inclusion in Emerging markets, especially the degree of openness of the market to the international investment community and an established and well-tested operational framework. These upgrades are a very positive step for the development of Qatar Stock Exchange and are likely to enhance the trustworthiness of the market and consequently attract foreign portfolios."
In its first day, the Congress included interactive roundtables, debates and workshops, which dealt with various subjects such as the diversification of exchange revenue sources; globalization and future challenges facing financial markets; new trading technology for exchanges; the added value of MSCI upgrade; liquidity issues; and the role of exchanges in facing macroeconomic in the MENA region.
