21 February 2015, Dubai, UAE: The Middle East Investor Relations Society is pleased to announce the publishing of its Investor Relations Code of Conduct. The Code has been produced by the Society's Regulatory Committee lead by Andrew Tarbuck, Board Member of the Society and Partner at Latham & Watkins. The aim of the Code is to provide listed and private companies across the region with best practice guidelines on how to communicate and properly disclose information to the investment community.

"The Investor Relations Code of Conduct is intended to be a useful tool for corporates across the MENA region," commented Andrew Tarbuck. "It is part of the Society's mandate to facilitate and assist the Middle East's Investor Relations community in implementing international best practice Investor Relations. We hope that the Code will act as an easy to use, informative, go-to guide, providing support for Investor Relations Professionals, in their day to day roles, as well as assistance to senior managements and board members in establishing an Investor Relations function."

The publishing of the Investor Relations Code of Conduct follows the recent circulation of UAE regulator the Securities and Commodities Authority's (SCA) Investor Relations Guidelines. The guidelines, which are divided into mandatory and optional, were issued to all UAE listed companies in January with the instruction to implement the mandatory guidelines before the end of 2015.

"Improving Investor Relations practices among listed entities in the UAE is clearly high on the agenda, both amongst corporates themselves and at regulatory level," commented Oliver Schutzmann, Chairman of the Middle East Investor Relations Society. "Since having an Investor Relations function is now becoming regulatory requirement, the Society aims to provide as much support and help to publicly listed companies as possible. We firmly believe that this will lead to higher transparency and disclosure standards which will benefit the market as a whole, and are optimistic that the same regulation will be adopted in markets across the region in the near future."

The Investor Relations Code of Conduct will be made available to all Middle East Investor Relations Society members. Corporates interested in obtaining a copy are urged to visit the Society's website www.me-irsociety.com or get in touch with the General Manager, Clemence Piot (cpiot@me-irsociety.com).

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ABOUT THE ME-IR SOCIETY
The Middle East Investor Relations Society was established in 2008 and is an independent, not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting international best practice Investor Relations standards across the region. We are committed to fostering increased dialogue among our members and encourage them to share and adopt best practice techniques within the field of IR.

In partnership with regional stock exchanges, regulators and other market participants, the Society supports listed firms through its membership programme, education, certification and peer networking. Our objective is to enhance the reputation, efficiency and attractiveness of the Middle East capital markets.

For more information relating to events, membership, education, training or sponsorship opportunities please contact:

Clemence Piot
General Manager, Middle East Investor Relations Society
cpiot@me-irsociety.com
00971 56 136 4661

All information is also published on www.me-irsociety.com     

© Press Release 2015