Jalil Tarif, Secretary-General of the Union of Arab Securities Authorities, gives the Review readers an insight into the role of his organisation and regulatory challenges within the Gulf region
What does the Union of Arab Securities Authorities (UASA) do?
The UASA consists of 15 Arab securities authorities from the Gulf Co-operation Council, North Africa and Middle East. Its overriding objective is to enhance regulatory co-operation, increase technical collaboration and share regulatory information to achieve the implementation of the IOSCO principles for securities in Arab capital markets. The UASA also provides technical assistance to Arab countries in the field of securities, market regulation and advice on expanding their offerings and how they can attract inward investment.
What are the main challenges faced by regulators of Arab securities markets in the region?
Improving market transparency, mitigating systemic risks and protecting investors. These are fundamental to help in mitigating any adverse impact of regulatory differences on cross-border activity in securities markets and to create greater opportunities for domestic entities to operate on an international level, on par with standards adopted by capital markets in developed economies.
How are you looking to improve regulations and standards in Arab securities market in 2015?
Arab securities markets have to have to foster a more vibrant institutional investor community and align their supervisory practices with global standards. They should allow individual institutions to innovate and take risks as their capabilities increase, encourage competition on regional and global levels and modernise the legal and regulatory financial environment.
Where do you see Arab securities market in comparison with other international markets?
The market fundamentals in the region are strong and the MENA countries are ideally positioned to further enhance their financial market offerings. We are increasingly seeing a willingness by regional countries to promote the domestic financial sector to attract international investments as part of their broader strategy to diversify local economies.
"We work very closely with the CISI to ensure the highest level of competence for practitioners in securities and investments markets"What are you doing to raise competence levels among practitioners?
Professional development programmes are fundamental for financial practitioners to better understand the dynamics of capital markets to ensure they make informed investment decisions. To this end a plan was recently approved by the UASA board members on the need for bilateral training programmes to promote the exchange of experiences and knowledge transfer between Arab securities authorities. We work very closely with the CISI to ensure the highest level of competence for practitioners in securities and investments markets. This is in line with CISI’s objectives to promote the progression and dissemination of financial knowledge to develop high ethical standards in regional practitioners.