Shareholders in Bahrain urged to update KYC

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MANAMA: Nearly 80 per cent of shareholders in listed companies have transferred to the electronic registry and deposited their stockholdings in Bahrain Clear’s Central Depository System.

The clearing house said in a statement that 79.57 per cent of shareholders representing 28,208,869,078 shares of companies listed on Bahrain Bourse (BHB) have already completed the process.

This came as part of compliance with BHB Resolution No (5) of 2015 on amendment of listing requirements for companies.

As of last Tuesday, the number of shareholders carrying physical certificates that lack updated know your customer (KYC) information was 82,889.

They own around 7.24 billion shares with a market cap of BD1.52bn in comparison to total market capitalisation, which is BD9.22bn.

Bahrain Clear requested shareholders carrying physical certificates to update their personal KYC information which will facilitate distribution of past unclaimed dividends withheld by the listed companies.

Listed companies have published several announcements requesting for shareholders carrying physical certificates to visit Bahrain Clear in order to transfer their physical certificates to the Electronic Registry and update their KYC, which will allow them to have access to the e-services available including swift receipt of future dividends through direct bank transfers.

Bahrain Clear’s senior director of operations Abdulla Jaffar Abdin said: “This initiative comes as part of responsibilities to ensure protection of all shareholders’ rights, whereby Bahrain Clear collaboratively works closely with listed companies to ensure finding appropriate mechanisms to update missing KYC information on all shareholders.”

Bahrain Clear is a fully owned subsidiary of Bahrain Bourse with a disclosed capital of BD5 million, and a paid-up capital of BD1m.

It offers pre and post-trade services to investors including transaction depository, clearing, settlement and registration.

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