MANAMA: With the finalization of the legal formalities to register Bahrain Stock Exchange (BSE) as an independent entity, the exchange has become Bahrain Bourse, a closed shareholding company with an authorized capital of BD10 million and paid-up capital of BD2 million.
The Minister of Finance Ahmed bin Mohammed Al-Khalifa, said on Monday that the ministry had finalized the legal and administrative procedures of registering "Bahrain Bourse" as a Bahraini shareholding closed company.
Now located at the Bahrain Financial Harbor (BFH), the BSE was established in 1987 and officially commenced operations two years later in June 1989.
Experts and businessmen see the transformation as being in line with the best corporate governance and especially it comes at a time when Bahrain's financial market needs of further development and broadening the scope of business at the bourse.
Ahmed bin Mohammed Al-Khalifa also clarified that the new legal structure of Bahrain Bourse would give the bourse more flexibility to carry out the plans required to work commercially in order to achieve profitability.
"The bourse will therefore have more flexibility to work on increasing the number of companies listed, increasing the shares' turnover, attracting new investors, and enhancing the quality of services provided by the bourse to its clients, whether they are issuers of securities or shareholders at listed companies or investors," he said.
© Arab News 2011
