Media ININ Economy We Trust
Abu Dhabi, April 28 2020 WAM
The Board of Directors of the Securities and Commodities Authority chaired by His Excellency Engineer Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansoori, Minister of Economy and Chairman of the Board of Directors, held the fifteenth meeting of the sixth session of the Council using visual communication techniques from a distance.
The meeting discussed a number of initiatives and decisions aimed at developing the system of financial activities and services related to the regulation and supervision of the country’s securities sector to match the best international standards and practices, as well as the measures taken by the authority – under the guidance of the Council of Ministers – in coordination and cooperation with its partners in the financial market to contain the consequences of the Corona pandemic and mitigate the Its negative effects on financial markets and companies operating in the securities field.
The meeting dealt with a number of important issues and issues related to the securities sector.
The Board of Directors reviewed a report on the measures taken by the authority – under the directives of the esteemed cabinet – to contain the repercussions of the Corona pandemic on the country’s financial markets, and the report included the external actions of companies and investors in addition to the internal procedures in the authority.
The external measures included adjusting the amount of the share price movement down, and according to the decision, the amount of movement in the share price will be / 5% / of the previous closing price, as a maximum, for a decrease in one trading day, and the decision was applied as of the trading session of last March 18.
The external measures also included the issuance of the decision to exclude the joint-stock companies to extend the deadline for holding the assemblies to the next 30th of June with the aim of avoiding any risks of the delay in holding the meetings of the general assemblies that had been due to expire the legal deadline for holding them on April 30th.
Also, a circular was issued regarding granting some exceptions from the companies ’purchase system for their shares in order to facilitate the companies’ purchase of their shares.
The procedures also included the mandatory application of electronic voting in the general assemblies instead of the personal attendance of shareholders, in response to the directions of the rational government to prevent rallies in this period, and the electronic voting of the general assemblies of public joint stock companies has already been activated, which has proven to be a great success.
The authority has circulated to the licensed companies regarding the extension of the disclosure period for the annual financial reports for the year 2019, and the circular has also been circulated to the licensed companies regarding the postponement of the disclosure of interim statements ending on March 31.
In addition, a circular on exceptional procedures was issued to buy shares of companies.
The authority also sent a circular to the listed companies requesting that they provide them with the preventive measures taken by the companies to preserve public safety and health and prevent new Corona Virus / COVID-19 / and limit its spread.
The authority also directed companies to develop a well thought out plan and written policy to ensure continuity of work and activate the recovery plan in the event of an emergency, as part of the risk management system.
In this context, the authority implemented the policy of inspection of companies through the system of video communication by Teams instead of the actual visits of companies.
In the context of other external measures taken by the authority by the licensed companies, the employees of these companies subject to vocational licensing tests were given a period of 3 months starting from the center’s initiation of receiving applications for registering the tests.
In addition, the authority published and sent a circular to all customers of the obligation to use the smart and electronic services provided by the authority through its website www.sca.gov.ae and through smart devices, rather than in person attendance at the customer service centers in the authority.
