Bahrain Bourse headed a delegation from the Arab Federation of Capital Markets (‘AFCM’) during an official visit to the London Stock Exchange, held during 26-27 May, 2022. The event was hosted by the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), and attended by more than 19 delegates from the Arab Federation of Capital Markets to support AFCM’s cooperation development with other international exchanges and explore cooperation opportunities across markets.
During the delegation visit, headed by Bahrain Bourse, meetings were held with the London Stock Exchange, FTSE Russell, and LCH, covering topics related to SME and startup markets, benchmarks and indices, ESG and sustainability, and post-trade services. The delegation was received by Julia Hoggett, CEO of London Stock Exchange plc, to open London’s markets for trading.
On the occasion, Shaikh Khalifa bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, CEO of Bahrain Bourse and AFCM President commented: “The Arab Federation of Capital Markets is honoured to be hosted by the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG). LSEG offers unique opportunities to Middle East-based markets to access deep and liquid pools of international investment capital. At a Federation level, we look forward to exploring mutual areas of cooperation not only on the exchange operations front, but also on the data and analytics solutions front as well as post-trade value chain and identify areas for collaboration across markets.”
Julia Hoggett, CEO, London Stock Exchange plc said: “We were delighted to welcome the Arab Federation of Capital Markets to the London Stock Exchange, to open London’s markets for trading and to exchange ideas for creating stronger and more connected capital markets. Through collaboration, we can build stronger financial markets, allowing market participants to raise funding effectively and find the right investor base.”
It is worth noting that Bahrain Bourse received handover of presidency of the Arab Federation of Capital Markets (‘AFCM’) from the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) during the Arab Federation of Capital Markets (AFCM) Annual Conference held on 29-30 March, 2022. During its presidency period, Bahrain Bourse will lead the Arab Federation of Capital Markets throughout the year 2022 and continue the efforts to further develop the Federation and enable it to achieve its vision and expand its memberships. The Arab Federation of Capital Markets was established in June 1978 as an industry guiding body for the Arab stock exchanges and currently includes 21 members representing around 17 stock and commodity exchanges, and four clearing companies, in addition to several financial brokerage firms and banks within the Arab region.