Reuters – Egypt’s financial regulator will implement new regulations for companies listed on the stock exchange on 1 February to help boost trading on the bourse and attract more investment, its chairman said on Wednesday.
A listed company will no longer need permission from the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority to split shares or have to call a general assembly prior to a capital increase as long as it complies with pre-set rules, EFSA head Sherif Samy told Reuters by phone.
The new rules will also make it easier for companies wishing to list on the stock exchange, Samy said.
Much of the activity in Egypt’s capital markets froze up during the political instability which followed the toppling of President Hosni Mubarak in February 2011.
Samy told Reuters in October that listing regulations were in “dire need” of change.
The weakness of the stock market deprived companies of a source of funds, hurting their balance sheets and business confidence. The market has recovered only partially since Islamist President Mohamed Morsi was overthrown last July following mass protests against his rule.
As part of Egypt’s drive to attract much needed investment, a bond trading platform in Egypt that has been 10 years in the planning could open for business in the second quarter of 2014, stock exchange chairmanMohamed Omran told Reuters on Tuesday.
The bond trading platform could make it easier for investors to buy and sell securities on the bourse.
