Doha, Qatar 13 April 2013: Al Khalij Commercial Bank's (al khaliji) Q.S.C., has participated in the 4th Middle East Securities Forum (MESF) 2013 held annually. This year, the conference covered topics such as GCC market updates, tracking further developments of the financial markets in the region, challenges and outlook for the Middle East Exchanges and many other important topics.
The MESF brings together policy-makers, investors and key-decision makers from across the GCC and beyond. The Forum provides a platform to address the need of a strong operational framework to meet the ever increasing investors' demand.
al khaliji through its participation in the forum highlighted the recent initiatives and developments taken by the bank from a regulatory and risk management stand points to mitigate these challenges for a more transparent investment environment.
Additionally, al khaliji's Head of Investments & Capital Markets Tahir Pirzada took part in two panel discussions, namely GCC Repo And Islamic Alternative To Repo, and the other panel discussion Tracking The Development Of Local (Currency) Bond Markets
Participating in the first panel discussion on GCC Repo And Islamic Alternative To Repo, Tahir Pirzada said, "Emphasis was given on the utility of Repo/Reverse Repo products which are essentially Money Market tools. By using these products Funding/liquidity can be arranged via secured lending & borrowing as opposed to conventional un-secured lending & borrowing,". He further added, "these products can be used on two institutions exchange a Global Master Repurchase Agreement (GMRA) which is designed by International Capital Market Association (ICMA)."
"Financial institutions should be encouraged to hire appropriate skilled resources to manage the Fixed Income asset class and likewise all the institutions should ensure that they are market making for these bonds." Pirzada said.
Calling upon the financial institutions to develop a reliable trading and settlement process to trade these securities more frequently, Pirzada said, "Once this is established, local market will have less reliance on the availability of liquidity/debt from international counterparties especially at difficult times.
He further noted that Central Banks, regulators, exchanges and financial institutions should work together in harmony to develop the infrastructure for these products.
Pirzada also spoke about Tracking The Development Of Local (Currency) Bond Markets. He said, "Government issuances in local currency bonds are primarily issued with an objective of establishing a yield curve. More frequent Issuances with wider range of maturities help develop the yield curve quickly which benefits not only the Sovereign but other potential issuers like quasi-sovereign, corporate, financials etc.
al khaliji's participation in the 4th Middle East Securities Forum reinforces the bank's emerging role as a local and regional industry leader. Bank executives are regularly invited to speak at seminars and conferences to share their input and experiences with the public, as industry leaders have repeatedly looked towards al khaliji for input and thought leadership.
© Press Release 2013
