Syria's decision to launch stock market, great success -- Economist

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jan 10 2010

Syria's decision to launch stock market, great success -- Economist

DAMASCUS -- Syria had made the long-delayed decision to launch its first stock exchange - the Damascus Securities Exchange (DSE) - on March 10, 2009, a crucial step towards liberalization of the country's state-controlled economy.

The decision, which had coincided with a crushing world economic crisis, triggered, at that time, widespread controversy, fears and skepticism among observers some of who deemed the move an uncalculated economic adventure, but later on proved to be highly succefful, a leading economist told KUNA on Friday. The Syrian Commission on Financial Markets and Securities (SCFMS), the regulatory authority of the stock market, has been seeking to strengthen the efficiency of the securities sector in order to encourage the public to transfer their nest eggs into investments on the market.

Mohammed Al-Imady, board member of the SCFMS, said: "It is a top priority for the commission to strengthen the legislative and regulatory infrastructure of the financial market." "We learn from the experiences of the bourses of sisterly Arab countries particularly in the domains of modernization and capacity building due to the accelerated changes on the regional and international markets," he said.

"During the first year of trading on the DSE, the commission finalized the legal framework governing the market in order to reinforce sound and fair trading rules among all investors.

"The commission developed and updated legislations and operating and listing systems to cope with global progress in cooperation with Arab and international financial authorities," Al-Imady pointed out.

"Since the first day of trading, the commission has started setting the price limits of shares at basis points ranging between -2 and +2 percent of the value of a security regardless of the volume of transactions.

"A new closing price for a security would be specified in case less than 200 shares were traded, thus setting a new reference price for future transactions," he revealed.

"The commission has 33 accredited auditors who hold ACPA certificates of the Arab Society Certified Accountants (ASCA)," Al-Imady went on to say.

The ACPA, an Arab accredited professional certificate, aims at providing Arab accountants with the highest qualifications in line with the international curricula of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), Certified General Accountants Association in Canada (CGA-Canada), and the Federation International des Experts Compatibles Francophone (FIDEF) of the European Union.

"In a bid to encourage Arab and foreign investors to the DSE, the Syrian monetary and loaning board adopted Act 538 to aiming to make the financial market more investment-attractive, Al-Imady added.

Founded in 2005, pursuant to Law 22, the Syrian Commission on Financial Markets and Securities is a legal entity with financial and administrative mandates.