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Hossam Abdullah and Ezekiel Tuma

Asar plays key role at Kuwait forum

Kuwait, May 25, 2014

Kuwait’s leading corporate law firm Al Ruwayeh & Partners (Asar) played a key role at the second 'Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) Forum' which was hosted byThomson Reuters in the country.

The forum was aimed at empowering audit, risk and compliance professionals, business leaders, and the boards they serve to adapt to the currently changing legal landscape and application of best practices to effectively execute their business goals.

Hossam Abdullah and Ezekiel Tuma, the corporate, banking & finance partners at ASAR, participated in panels covering a review of existing gaps and regulatory challenges regarding capital markets reforms and discussing developments in Kuwaiti laws and regulations on corporate governance, respectively.

Abdullah discussed amongst others the capital markets reform in Kuwait and recent legislative developments in the last 3 years such as the AML law, foreign direct investment law, electronic transactions law, with specific focus on capital markets laws and regulations.

He also highlighted major matters regulated by the Capital Markets Authority among the 106 rules and decisions made by the CMA including disclosure requirements, corporate governance, qualifications of directors, CEO’s and top executives.

He further elaborated on the privatization of the Kuwait Stock Exchange followed by a summary of some key features of Kuwait’s new companies’ law including election and composition of the board of directors and noting cumulative voting, and minority shareholders protection.

In his address, Tuma summarized the key principles of corporate governance and detailed the current legal and regulatory developments relevant to corporate governance including recent laws and regulations governing, transparency, rights of shareholders, board members liability to the company, positions of chairman and CEO being separated in public joint stock companies and disclosure regulations.

He pointed out that the CMA recently issued a comprehensive corporate governance code No. 25/2013 which enshrines 11 key corporate governance principles to be adhered to by listed and CMA licensed entities.

The corporate governance code includes measures targeted at strengthening the board of directors, ensuring fairness and accuracy of financial reporting, protection of shareholder rights and promoting timely and thorough disclosures.

“As we continue to explore and acknowledge the changes in our legal and regulatory frameworks, it is imperative to weigh the challenges and set policies in line with achieving or exceeding compliance obligations. While Kuwait has made significant steps towards addressing corporate governance considerations, we believe that both the regulators and the regulated have a key role to play in ensuring that Kuwait achieves the highest standards of corporate governance,” he added.

With dedicated offices in Kuwait and Bahrain coupled with its associated offices and relationships, ASAR provides clients across an extensive range of industry sectors with comprehensive legal advice and support for their business activities in Kuwait, across the GCC and beyond.-TradeArabia News Service




Tags: Kuwait | forum |

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