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Issue 11 - MARCH 2017
www.bahrainbourse.comBHB’S BOARD APPROVES ESTABLISHMENT OF BAHRAIN CLEAR
The Board of Directors of Bahrain
Bourse (BHB) held its second meet-
ing for the year 2017 on Wednes-
day, 22
nd
February 2017 chaired
by Mr. Abdulkareem Ahmed Bu-
cheeri, Chairman of the Bourse.
The Board discussed the topics
on the agenda including the latest
developments at Bahrain Bourse,
where the strategic review of
BHB’s operational plan for 2016
was presented by the Chief Exec-
utive Officer of the Bourse, Shaikh
Khalifa bin Ebrahim Al-Khalifa.
The presentation outlined the
major achievements of Bahrain
Bourse during 2016 such as the
launch of the T-Bills market,
where 42 T-Bill issues with a total
value of BD2.82 billion were listed.
The REITs market was also creat-
ed with the listing of Eskan Bank
Units of the Eskan Bank Realty In-
come as the first REIT in BHB. In
addition, 4 sukuk issues were listed
with a total value of BD871 million.
In 2016, the Market Making
Guidelines were implemented,
resulting in the approval of the
first market maker in BHB with
another company to follow soon.
Moreover, BHB’s new website
was launched with an interactive
interface offering comprehen-
sive solutions to all BHB’s clients.
Bahrain Bourse also succeeded in
transferring the paper shares cer-
tificates of all listed companies to
the electronic records and depos-
iting them in the Bourse’s Central
Depository System leading to
the upgrade of Bahrain Bourse’s
CSD services rating by Thom-
as Murray from A-, CSD Flash
Impact: “Stable”, to CSD Rating:
AA-, Flash Impact: “Positive”.
The Board praised BHB’s
achievements in 2016 and ap-
preciated the efforts of its em-
ployees throughout the year.
Furthermore, the Board approved
the Listing Rules in order to en-
hance the role of BHB as a Self-Reg-
ulatory Organization (SRO) by
expanding its legislative and su-
pervisory authorities in aspects
related to listing, disclosure, and
investors’ protection as well as the
obligations of issuers of securities.
In addition, the Board issued
a resolution to establish Bah-
rain Clear Company with an is-
sued capital of BD5 million and
paid-up capital of BD1 million.
The Board also nominated the
Board Members and Executive
Management of the company.
Bahrain Clear will provide services
in the areas of settlement, deposi-
tory of securities, custodians, and
other services to companies, in-
vestors, and other related parties.
The Board was also briefed on
BHB’s strategic plan for 2016-
2020, and agreed to focus on key
actions that go in line with BHB’s
vision in the upcoming period.
During the meeting, the Board
approved BHB’s financial re-
sults for the year ended 31 De-
cember 2016 as well as the
recommendation to the share-
holder to re-appoint the Auditor.
The Board discussed the eval-
uation criteria of BHB and
BHB’s Corporate Governance
Report for the year 2016.
The Board discussed the reports
and recommendations of the
Board’s Committees and decid-
ed on the actions to be taken.
Shaikh Khalifa bin Ebrahim
Al-Khalifa, CEO of Bahrain Bourse
(BHB) issued on Thursday, Jan-
uary 26, 2017 Resolution No. (2)
for 2017 regarding the adoption of
Market Making Guidelines in Bah-
rain Bourse, that will commence
on Wednesday, March 1, 2017.
Sh. Khalifa Al Khalifa said that
the issuance of these Guidelines
has set a professional founda-
tion for Market Making in Bah-
rain Bourse as applied in in-
ternational financial markets.
BAHRAIN BOURSE APPROVES MARKET MAKING GUIDELINES
Shaikh Khalifa expressed recom-
mendation to all parties involved
benefiting from these Guidelines
that will reflect positively on the
Bourse’s trading activity attract-
ing more investors to take ad-
vantage of such initiatives and
services offered by the Bourse.
He also assured that these guide-
lines come to complement the
legal framework stated in BHB’s
Market Rules that aims at in-
creasing Market Makers’ efficien-
cy and maintain market integrity
as well as investor protection.
The Guidelines include the opera-
tional and technical requirements
that market makers should comply
with to carry out their responsi-
bilities aimed at making bid and
offer quotation, ensuring continu-
ous liquidity on a specified security
or many securities in accordance
with the conditions and require-
ments stated in the Guidelines.
The Guidelines also include tech-
nical and price requirements
in the buy and sell orders an-
nounced by the market maker
during the main trading session.
The Guidelines also highlighted the
mandatory procedures to be fol-
lowed by a market maker to apply
to the exercise of market-making
in the bourse. Legal, administra-
tive, financial, technical and ac-
counting requirements that must
be met when submitting applica-
tions, as well as the need to meet
the Capital Adequacy requirements
are clarified in the Guidelines.