The Muscat Stock Exchange (MSX) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Middle East Investor Relations Association (MEIRA) and appointed a representative for the country.
Haitham al Salmi, CEO of MSX and John Gollifer, General Manager, MEIRA signed the MoU representing the parties respectively in the presence of a number of officials as representatives of various shareholding companies listed on the stock exchange.
Speaking to the Observer, Haitham al Salmi, CEO of MSX said the association will ultimately benefit the shareholders who deal with the bourse.
"We have been a member of MEIRA for a very long time and we want to take it to the next level to work with us, primarily to develop our IR practices and to have the right certifications for our IR officers from the listed companies increasing the awareness between the issuers," Haitham al Salmi said.
Muscat Stock Exchange (MSX) will also aim to revive the Oman IR Chapter while taking a leading role in the chapter by the appointment of Syeda Tabinda Bukhari (pictured) an MSX Investor Relations Officer (IRO) as the head of the chapter.
"With the signing, we will put our plan and upgrade our best practices. Secondly, it is very critical to have the right, authenticated skills to perform the right IR skills to deal with investors and analysts whoever wants to have the right information," added Al Salmi.
He further said that by signing this MOU, the Muscat Stock Exchange will seek to exchange the latest views on best practices in relation to investor relations activities.
"This is vital because enhancing transparency in the financial markets is of paramount importance and has become a matter for listed companies after the investor community has become more sophisticated and demanding for periodic information and updates from listed companies to enable it to take appropriate investment decisions."
It is equally important that all investment decisions need to come from the statistics and information and the key to such decision making is to comprehend the past history of the companies that they are dealing with and it is the right of the shareholders to get the information.
According to the MSX, the collaboration with MEIRA is a strategic partnership, where it brings international benchmarks and a best practice toolkit to support the listed companies and develop the quality of companies’ performance in the market.
"With the signing of the MoU, we take a better role in supporting the market participants and continuing MSX’s journey towards creating a culture of sustainable investments that aligns with Oman Vision 2040," Syeda Tabinda Bukhari said.
MEIRA’s approach is to initiate and accelerate local IR Chapters in regional capital markets and develop expertise by provide access to a wide variety of programmes, training and Certification, the most prominent of which being CIRO certification which is an internationally recognized qualification for IROs in the world, in partnership with UK IR Society.
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