SALALAH: Muscat Stock Exchange (MSX) is moving its sustainability regime beyond filing compliance towards assessing whether corporate disclosures provide investors with credible, comparable and decision-useful information, senior executives said in Salalah on Thursday.
The shift follows full compliance by listed companies with mandatory environmental, social and governance reporting requirements, according to MSX officials speaking at the Sustainability Forum 2026, organised by the exchange and hosted by the Port of Salalah.
Haitham bin Salem Al Salmi, Chief Executive Officer of MSX, said the exchange had moved from concentrating on whether companies submitted ESG disclosures to examining their quality.
“We have moved from focusing on disclosures to focusing on the quality of those disclosures,” Al Salmi said.
He said assessments conducted by private consultancy firms had placed the quality of first-year disclosures at close to 80 per cent. The consultancies and assessment methodology were not identified during the presentation.
Badr bin Hamoud Al Hinai, Chief Operating Officer of MSX, said listed companies had maintained 100 per cent compliance across reports covering 2024 and 2025.
MSX’s previously published records show that ESG reporting became compulsory in 2025 for activities conducted during the 2024 financial year, marking the first mandatory cycle.
The framework uses 30 disclosure metrics. Twenty-nine were harmonised with other GCC exchanges, while MSX added a community-investment indicator reflecting the role of corporate spending in local economic and social development.
Al Hinai said institutional investors increasingly examine environmental performance, governance practices and social impact alongside conventional measures such as revenue and profit growth.
The exchange’s ESG framework covers emissions and resource efficiency; relations with employees, suppliers, customers and communities; and governance issues including shareholder rights, executive remuneration, board diversity, accountability and anti-corruption measures.
MSX established a sustainability section after it became a company owned by Oman Investment Authority in 2021. The unit was subsequently developed into a Sustainable Investment Centre and expanded to bring together ESG, corporate disclosure, investor relations and corporate social responsibility.
Al Hinai said incorporating disclosure functions into the centre recognised that sustainability reporting could not be separated from the wider flow of financial and material information used by investors.
The disclosure function oversees financial statements, material announcements, sustainability reports, changes to corporate structures, governance matters and decisions taken at general meetings.
MSX’s electronic disclosure system supports Arabic and English, allowing information to reach investors in both languages simultaneously.
Al Hinai said companies were encouraged to disclose material information before trading begins, giving investors sufficient time to assess its potential effect on the company and its share price.
When material information must be published during a trading session, the exchange temporarily suspends the affected security for about 20 minutes and announces the disclosure immediately. Trading resumes after market participants have been given time to evaluate the information.
The exchange also monitors company-related news and market-sensitive reports published outside its official platform.
If information concerning a listed company appears elsewhere without first being disclosed through MSX, the exchange contacts the company and may require it to confirm or deny the report through the official system.
Al Hinai said the process was intended to prevent some investors from obtaining material information before others and to preserve equal access across the market.
MSX has also introduced investor-relations guidance and an indicative dividend-policy framework, encouraging listed companies to appoint qualified investor-relations officers and provide shareholders with clearer information about their approach to future cash distributions.
Ahmed bin Mohsen Al Ghassani, Chairman of Dhofar Municipality, said corporate social responsibility should not be reduced to one-off financial contributions or assistance provided in response to individual situations.
He said it should instead be treated as an integrated institutional responsibility beginning within the company itself and reflected in its governance and relationship with the community.
The distinction mirrors the wider challenge facing sustainability reporting: filing a report establishes compliance, but the value to investors depends on the quality, consistency and measurability of the information it contains.
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