The Qatar Financial Market Authority (QFMA) has issued five legislations, including those relating to mergers and acquisitions and capital adequacy for financial services, as part of modernising the legal infrastructure and supporting the development of capital markets.
The legislations, issued by QFMA chairman and Qatar Central Bank governor HE Sheikh Abdulla bin Saud al-Thani, also cover areas pertaining to regulating and licensing depositaries, amendments to the corporate governance code in the main market and introducing new corporate governance code in the Venture Market, which is the junior bourse for small and medium enterprises.
Their issuance came after the board's approval on these legislations that will strengthen the regulatory and supervisory role of the QFMA on the Qatari capital market.
"The issuance of such legislations comes as a part of the QFMA's ongoing efforts to follow up the capital markets developments and monitor the market needs as well as modernise the legal infrastructure with further services and procedures that ensure diversity in financial services with updating the regulatory tools," QFMA chief executive Nasser Ahmed al-Shaibi said.
The capital adequacy standards would be applied on financial services companies licensed by the QFMA to ensure that these companies permanently retain capital adequacy ratios that enable them to perform their business and use their assets in the best way. The provisions of M&A rules would apply to all acquisitions or mergers in which one of the parties is a listed company or a subsidiary.
The rules of licensing and regulating depositary contain requirements and controls to license the depositary and regulate its work in accordance with law and regulations.
The corporate governance code in the Venture Market provides a comprehensive framework for corporate governance of listed companies in the secondary market. It also addresses the formation of board of directors, its structure, duties, responsibilities and the appointment of its secretary.
It also includes the main principles for the protection of the rights of shareholders, and focuses on principles in order to strengthen the internal control systems in the company, and how to activate and apply the requirements contained therein.
© Gulf Times 2014
