Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) today announced its participation in the annual conference of the Union of Arab Stock Exchanges, taking place in Beirut, Lebanon, from 25 to 26 October, 2010

Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) today announced its participation in the annual conference of the Union of Arab Stock Exchanges, taking place in Beirut, Lebanon, from 25 to 26 October, 2010.

This year’s round takes place under the patronage of Saad Al Hariri, the Lebanese Prime Minister along with the heads of member country’s stock exchanges and settlement houses, as well as heads of international organizations and exchanges including the World Federation of Exchanges, Istanbul Stock Exchange, Italy Stock Exchange and NYSE Euronext.

Rashed Al Baloushi, ADX’s Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Operations, is representing the exchange in the 2010 conference which is dedicated to discuss the challenges facing the Arab exchanges and the opportunities for development and growth.

“Upgrading Arab stock markets by international institutions from frontier to emerging markets is of great importance at this stage, a course of action that is earnestly pursued by the UAE owing to the vast opportunities offered by such upgrade by placing the Arab stock markets on the map of international investment opportunities,” Al Baloushi said during his presentation at the conference.

“The success achieved by the financial markets in the UAE through the upgrade from frontier to secondary emerging market by FTSE is a milestone in that direction, while we expect a similar upgrade by MSCI soon which, according to experts will result in the flow of about US$ 40 billion of foreign investments to the country,” he added.

The Deputy Chief Executive emphasized that achieving such upgrade represents a major challenge for all Arab markets, as it requires adherence to the international norms and standards of efficiency for the operations of trading, settlement, clearance, custody and depository, in addition to the need for enhancing the elements of transparency and governance to generate confidence among foreign investors, not to mention the positive outcome for listed companies that will enjoy a reputation of international caliber.

“Many positive developments will take place at ADX during the coming phase, including the introduction of XBRL as a standard for disclosure, in addition to our continuous efforts to introduce new investment vehicles and financial products, further diversifying the market and increasing its depth,” Al Baloushi revealed.

In March 2010, ADX was successful to launch the Exchange Traded Funds trading platform, to become the pioneer exchange in the region and to maintain its leading role in providing the necessary investment infrastructure in the Arab World.