LEFT: Nasser Ahmed Al Shaibi, CEO of QFMA, speaking during the opening session of ‘Putting Investors First 2018’ seminar. Pic: Abdul Basit/The Peninsula
DOHA: Qatar Financial Market Authority (QFMA) has made it clear that it has been adopting a zero tolerance policy for the companies’ bad behaviour attitude in the local market.
Attending a panel discussion on ‘Putting Investors First 2018’, jointly organised by QFMA and CFA Society Doha, Sami Boujelben, Chief Adviser, QFMA said as a regulator, QFMA’s prime concern is to protect the rights of the investors and maintain the confidence in them.
Earlier, formally opening the meet, Nasser Ahmed Al Shaibi, Chief Executive Officer of QFMA, said one of the QFMA’s top strategic objectives in protecting the rights of investors, all people dealing in the Qatari market, and maintaining the market’s stability and integrity.
Sami said maintaining a fair and a transparent market are key elements of QFMA’s strategic mission. Besides, maintaining financial stability and managing systemic risk, the main role of QFMA as a regulator is to put regulations and ensure that the functions of the markets are well supervised to ensure good behavior of the market players.
Sami said the upgrading of Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) was the direct result of QFMA’s strategic planning. “We have brought in a number of mechanisms to protect the interests of investors. He asked the listed companies to ensure that the shareholders are getting opportunities to express their opinion at the annual general meetings, even in their physical absence, using modern technology. He wanted the companies to introduce required infrastructure for this.
Sami said QFMA has a dedicated team to monitor the market. QFMA analyses any disclosures done by any company and will assess whether there is any lapses from the part of listed companies on their disclosures.
Mohsin Mujtaba, Director, Product and Market Development, Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) said the amount of bad behavior that goes around in the market depends as how much the regulators are willing to tolerate. “ If we look at the history of financial market crashes, we could see that the respective post-crisis investigations had proved the role of some top management people in some way or other, had acted in a wrong way, like that we saw during the 2008 subprime crisis,” he said.
Form regulatory, compliance point of view, there should be a zero tolerance for market bad behavior. That’s the only way you will have the trust of the investors in the market, he said.
Akber Khan, Senior Director, Al Rayan Investment said the sophistication of investors, the size of the market, the number of players and the diversity of choices available will differ from one market to another. The regulations need to be relatively positioned to allow the market to perform smoothly. He wanted the regulators not to ‘overburden’ the market participants and the investors. Qatar has different regulatory regimes. It is crucial to get the balance right, Akber said.
Dr Adnan Steitieh, Advisor & Secretary to the BOD, Salam International Investment and Francois Jansen van Rensburg, Business Head, MENA, Aventicum Capital Management also spoke.
