Stock brokers to hold talks

Hundreds of Gulf officials and stock market dealers will gather in Abu Dhabi in October for a two-day conference that will cover stock brokerage in the region and ways to upgrade local bourses, organisers said yesterday.

The UAE Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) and the Dammam-based Federation of GCC Chambers of Commerce and Industry will sponsor the October 14-15 conference and exhibition, the biggest stock brokers gathering in the region.

Minister of Economy Sultan Al Mansouri is expected to open both events as well as make an address focusing on the latest market developments.

"Officials, brokers and decision-makers are expected to participate in this event, which represents a real opportunity for all to exchange views and suggestions to upgrade the performance of Gulf bourses," the Federation's Secretary General Abdul Rahim Naqi said in a statement sent to Emirates Business.

"The conference will also cover the role of stock brokerage companies, latest regulations in the GCC bourses, the listed companies, the role of market regulators and the reasons for the delay by some banks in separating their stock brokerage units from the main banking operations."

Naqi said the more than 300 stocks brokerage firms in the GCC play a key role in developing markets, adding this role is set to gain momentum following the creation of the GCC common market.

Besides officials and brokers, the participants in the conference and show will include local and foreign banks, well known auditing companies, legal firms, foreign experts, and fund managers from the Gulf and other countries,

More than 650 companies trade their shares in the bourses of the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman. Their market capitalisation stood at around $1,088 billion yesterday.