The Middle East Investor Relations Society (ME-IR Society) has launched a new Regulatory Committee to support relations between region’s governing authorities and publicly listed companies.

The new body will aim at meeting regulators’ calls for greater input from listed firms to support implementation of international standards in the region.

As local regulators strive to improve the legislative structures of Middle East markets they are increasingly turning to industry advisors and expert groups to provide information and specialist insights into the requirements and needs of debt and equity markets.

In order to assist decision makers in this process and at the same time increase market transparency and accountability, the ME-IR Society’s Regulatory Committee will act as a guiding and supporting body that will improve dialogue and communication between regulators and Society members.

“Hawkamah, institute for corporate governance, applauds this positive step undertaken by the Middle East Investor Relations Society as essential to the development of region’s markets,” said   Dr Nasser Saidi, Hawakamah’s executive director.

“The dialogues that this Regulatory Committee will endeavour to facilitate between regional regulators and industry representatives are essential to building sustainable economies based on trust, shared responsibility, fairness, and accountability.”

“We look forward to getting engaged with the Society in promoting better regulatory and corporate governance frameworks in the region,” he added.

The new committee will act as a specialist function to develop the ME-IR Society’s position on regulatory issues that are of relevance to the Society’s members and to the wider market. It will work to identify critical issues that are important to national and international investors, and act as a supportive body of consultation on IR, corporate governance and best practice.

The objective of the initiative is to improve the maturity and perception of the structure of local markets in order to stimulate investor confidence.

“This initiative is important  because investor and business confidence and interactive participation are critical to successful market growth - best practice, disclosure and transparency are key to maintaining these and securing positive valuations over the long term,” said Alexander MacDonald-Vitale, Investor Relations Middle East, HSBC, head of the Regulatory Committee and part of the wider ME-IR Society Executive Board.

“And as the global economy and markets both within and beyond this region are under increasing scrutiny and pressure to improve access, we believe that it is more important than ever to continue to improve transparency, best practice and ultimately the credibility of markets across the Middle East.”

Paul Reynolds, chairman of the ME-IR Society’s board of directors, said: “We believe that the work of the ME-IR Society, its members and partners is extremely important to the sustained prosperity of the fast-evolving Middle East.”

“As part of this, the Regulatory Committee has been established to refine the Society's position and priorities on important issues of regulation and market practice, and to harness the considerable expertise of its members to support market enhancing initiatives.”

“This is another exciting development for the Society, which has already this year established leadership in the provision of globally recognised training and qualifications for investor relations professionals in the region,” Reynolds concluded.

The Regulatory Committee will meet quarterly to discuss relevant regulatory and legislative issues and will take the formation of a think tank, drawing on existing networks and including other markets specialists including advisors from the banking and legal sectors, auditors and compliance and governance representatives. – TradeArabia News Service