Bahrain Bourse concludes AFCM annual conference

Manama, Apr. 2 (BNA): Bahrain Bourse has concluded the Arab Federation of Capital Markets Annual Conference ‘’AFCM Annual Conference: Bahrain 2022’’. The conference, under the patronage of Finance and National Economy Minister Shaikh Salman bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, highlighted the role of capital markets in supporting and financing strategic projects during the pandemic. The conference also addressed Bahrain Bourse’s efforts to attract foreign investments, the development of CSD services to provide more products and services for investors, ESG disclosures in the region, and the rise of the new RegTech Era. More than 95 panelists participated in the 19 sessions attended by more than 400 participants from exchanges, regulatory bodies of financial markets, and brokerage firms. “The Economic Recovery Plan announced by the Kingdom of Bahrain plays an important role in attracting investments to the country which enhances its competitiveness and supports the local economy,” Shaikh Khalifa bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, Bahrain Bourse CEO and AFCM President for the year 2022 said in a keynote speech. “The plan to develop the capital markets, which is part of the Financial Services Sector Development Strategy 2022-2026 will enhance Bahrain Bourse’s role in attracting investments and providing advanced services to both investors and issuers. This will also strengthen cooperation with Arab capital markets and central depositories to increase liquidity in the local market and support the economy of the Kingdom of Bahrain.” Secretary General of the Arab Federation of Capital Markets Rami El Dokany said that 2021 was an exceptional year on many different aspects, where global markets started to recover from the impact of the pandemic. “The Arab Markets were not an exception, and markets witnessed an increase in market capitalization by 18% to reach to US$ 3.8 trillion,” he said. “The volume of shares traded also surged by 57% to reach 1.3 trillion shares. Last year, the region witnessed 23 IPOs with overall returns of US$ 8.1 million. Overall, all Arab markets witnessed a noticeable increase in its indicators, led by the GCC markets in the region.”