KUWAIT: The Kuwaiti Capital Markets Authority (CMA) is working on measures within international standards to lure investors, said a senior official on Thursday. Efforts to bolster transparency in all sectors of the Kuwaiti market would continue to enable Boursa Kuwait to gain further international footing, Ahmad Al-Melhem, Chairman of CMA Board of Commissioners, Managing Director said in an interview with KUNA.
The CMA is working on introducing more products and financial services soon including a platform to list and trade in bonds and funds at the market. The introduction of such tools came in line with efforts to lure investors after launching the services for revenue-producing real estate funds, margin trading, and many more.
Al-Melhem affirmed that the CMA was keen on providing auditing and regulatory services for dealing with traded shares for individuals, in addition to providing legal services for trading. The CMA also is eager to make sure that the legislative and operative environments for trading were up-to-date and ready for human cadres for use to provide the best of services to investors and encouraging individuals, institutions and other entities to invest. Al-Melhem revealed that the CMA had launched its 2023-24 and 2026-27 strategies to meet the demands of the upcoming period and boost the level of trading at Boursa Kuwait and the financial status of the State of Kuwait. The strategies would aim to increase awareness within the investment, legal, and information security sectors for all those involved in the market’s activities.
He also noted that the CMA’s plans were in line with Kuwait’s 2035 vision and the authority’s contributions to turning Kuwait into an international financial and business hub. Al-Melhem went on to say that the CMA was looking into measure to establish a national strategy for financial inclusion in cooperation with several state entities to provide affordable products and services for individuals and businesses. He noted that the initial steps towards that goal was launched in March of this year. On the positive impact of upgrading Kuwait to the emerging market ranks, Al-Melhem affirmed that it encouraged foreign investors, major corporations, and foreign capitals to invest more in the Kuwaiti market with an estimated KD 1.6 billion (around $5 billion) coming in during the upgrading period that occurred between 2018 and the end of 2020.
The upgrade also increased daily exchange at the market 2020 on a daily average of KD 62 million (an estimated $187.8 million) when compared to KD 18 million (around $54.5 million) in 2018, he pointed out. He revealed that the upgrade also allowed for introducing investment products at foreign markets based on Kuwaiti shares, which joined international indices. Kuwait was upgraded to the emerging market ranks at the (FTSE Russell) index in September 2017, the S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI) in December 2018, and the (MSCI) index in June 2019. — KUNA