“The initiative aims to ensure the quality of disclosures posted on financial market websites and to enhance market competitiveness,” Dr. Obaid Al Zaabi
As part of its role in enhancing financial market transparency and disclosures and its efforts to standardize disclosure-related procedures and requirements across the country’s financial markets, the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) adopted an initiative to introduce standardized disclosure forms for the use of listed companies and circulated the forms among these companies and the financial markets on which they are listed.
Dr. Obaid Saif Al Zaabi, SCA’s CEO, said that “the new initiative is intended to improve the level of services provided to investors and market participants, thus ensuring the quality of the disclosures posted on financial market websites and enhancing financial market competitiveness”.
“The initiative to standardize disclosure forms aims to raise the efficiency and quality of transparency and disclosures and to make sure that no material information is left out and that no major discrepancies exist between the disclosures made by companies listed on either ADX or DFM or between those made by companies listed on both of them,” he added. Dr. Al Zaabi said that “SCA will hold awareness-raising workshops to explain what content to be included in the forms and to respond to corporate questions in this regard”.
SCA coordinated with ADX and DFM to have the standardized disclosure forms posted on their websites, in Arabic and English. (The forms can be found on ADX’s “Services and Products” webpage and on DFM’s disclosure system, IFSAH). SCA also obliged listed companies to use these forms when posting disclosures. There are 22 standardized disclosure forms for:
1. Disclosing the purchase of assets in the company’s first fiscal year.
2. Disclosing the resignation of the chief executive /managing director.
3. Disclosing the resignation of a board member and the appointment of a new board member.
4. Disclosing the resignation of a board member
.5. Disclosing the appointment of the chief executive/managing director.
6. Disclosing the appointment of a new board member
.7. Disclosing projects.
8. Disclosing detailed analysis of accumulated losses.
9. Disclosing board meetings.
10. Disclosing acquisition/exist/mortgage/lease agreements.
11. Disclosing the preliminary results of public joint-stock companies.
12. Disclosing changes to the administrative structure.
13. Disclosing lawsuits initiated.
14. Disclosing the names of insiders.
15. Disclosing credit ratings or relevant amendments.
16. Disclosing transactions or deals with related parties.
17. Disclosing material information.
18. Disclosing the results of the general meetings of shareholders.
19. Disclosing the results of board meetings
.20. Disclosing reports discussing and analyzing the board of directors.
21. Guiding plan to address accumulated losses.
22. Request for “temporarily” hiding disclosures.
