CMA: On the path to turn Kuwait into a regional hub

CMA: On the path to turn Kuwait into a regional hub

KUWAIT: Kuwait has been taking steady steps to achieve its strategic objective of turning the country into a regional financial and commercial hub. The Gulf state has set up supervisory and regulatory authorities to back up a domestic market capable of attracting investments locally and from abroad. Capital Markets Authority’s establishment in 2010 was on the basis that the financial sector was one of the key fundamentals of the national economy, that it would play a vital role in investing funds, enriching savings, offering credit tools, diversifying income resources and creating jobs for nationals.

The CMA, since its establishment according to Law 7/2020, adopted by the National Assembly in February 2020, has taken charge of organizing and overseeing securities, ensuring transparency, justice and competence, obliging companies listed on Boursa Kuwait to adhere to governance and protecting traders from unjust and irregular practices. CMA’s five-member board of commissioners is largely credited for promoting Kuwait to the emerging market status, as declared by the FTSE Russel index in September 2017, S&O in December 2018 and MSCI in June 2019.

The promotion has contributed to luring foreign traders including those with huge assets and some $5 billion into the local stock market, particularly between 2018