Title: The Capital Markets Authority Issues its Thirteenth Annual Report

Kuwait, July 29, 2024 – The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) issued on July 28^th of 2024 its thirteenth annual report for the financial year (2023/2024). The report provides a comprehensive overview of its key functions and achievements in various areas of its work. Furthermore, the report presents the CMA visions for the upcoming years, specifically what was outlined in its third strategy for the financial years (2023/2024-2026/2027).

Legal Entitlement

It should be noted that the CMA's issuance of its annual report is a "legal entitlement" in accordance to Article (25) of its establishment law No. 7 of 2010 and its amendments, which stipulates: " The Authority shall, within 120 days after the end of every financial year, present to the Competent Minister an annual report on its activities, work and achievements in the growth and development of the market during the completed year, including the Authority’s financial accounts and the auditor’s report.”

In response to that legal entitlement, the CMA issues annually during the specified period a comprehensive report, presenting all of its executed tasks and achievements in various areas of its work:  legislative, regulatory, supervisory, and awareness aspects, as well as those related to regulating and developing both its internal work environment and external cooperation: locally, regionally, and internationally..

The thirteenth annual report of the CMA, comprising nearly two hundred pages, began with an opening message by Prof. Ahmad Abdulrahman Al-Melhem, followed by an introduction to the CMA's vision, mission, objectives, core values, and organizational structure before concluding with the financial statements of CMA for the years ending on 31 March 2024, and the auditor’s independent report, and a report on the performance of Boursa Kuwait Securities Exchange during 2023.The report presented the CMA’s accomplished tasks in six main sections, starting with the performance of the Board of Commissioners and the Secretary's office, then those achieved in the strategic field, sustainability and its different aspects. The report also includes a section on the duties of the councils and committees emanating from the Board of Commissioners and its affiliated offices. The sixth section highlights the CMA's achievements in various aspects of its work, including legal and regulatory matters, supervision, awareness, and media, as well as cooperation at the local, regional, and international levels. Furthermore, the report presents in detail the tasks related to the internal working environment of the CMA, such as financial and treasury affairs, technical regulation and updates, and general services. This is followed by a separate section on the CMA's vision and future directions, which are reflected by the initiatives in the current strategic period (2023/2024-2026/2027).

Al-Melhem: We seek to enhance economic and social development within the framework of Kuwait Vision 2035

In his opening message, Prof. Al-Melhem, Chairman of the Board of Commissioners and Managing Director of the CMA, highlighted the CMA's notable achievements in its recent financial year, which are aligned with the pillars of its current third strategy: Capital Markets development, Cooperation and Communication, and Institutional Enablement. According to Prof. Al-Melhem, the goals do not stop at upgrading the local capital market to the ranks of advanced emerging markets only, but rather go beyond that to target enhancing societal economic development, and strengthening the role of the CMA in achieving Kuwait Vision 2035.

In the same framework, Prof. Al-Melhem also presented CMA's most prominent strategic initiatives it has begun working within, such as those related to achieving financial inclusion and transforming into sustainable economies and capital markets, and developing a roadmap to update the Islamic financial industry in the capital markets in the State of Kuwait, in addition to studying the economic mechanism of the growing and medium-sized companies market and researching the feasibility of establishing a new platform for listing and trading shares of this type of companies.

Prof. Al-Melhem confirmed that the CMA’s approach regarding the enhancement of its internal work environment, institutional enablement, and self-governance structure as its tools for success in achieving its strategic goals. He pointed out that the CMA has reached levels  that have qualified it - for the fourth year in a row - to lead the  ranking of independent budget entities subject to the Audit Bureau's supervision in terms of meeting governance requirements, and also obtaining the ISO 22301 certificate for business continuity.

Numeric Terms

The mechanism for presenting the report's data varied between a brief explanation of the aspects that is required, and adopting the language of numbers to recap the tasks that have been implemented and the achievements made in other aspects. We summarize the most prominent of these numbers as follows:

- (872) matters on which a legal opinion was provided.

- (216) cases registered during the last financial year, bringing the number of lawsuits registered with the CMA to (1788) case.

- Investigating of (161) violations, and submitting (19) reports to the Public Prosecution.

- (63) collective investment schemes existing at the end of the last financial year, its total capital of KWD 2,064,629, its total asset value of KWD 2,526,041, and its net asset value of KWD 2,502,020.

- Granting (25) approvals to capital increase requests, (9) approvals to capital reduction requests, (12) prospectus approvals, in addition to (150) approvals for the purchase or sale of treasury shares.

- (5,958) investment portfolios for securities in the State of Kuwait at the end of 2023 with a market value of KWD 289,13,656,906, and 4,737 clients for investment portfolios.

- (6275) announcements were followed up on the Boursa Kuwait Securities Exchange, (24) observations on material information, (87) unusual trading cases, (247) disclosures from natural or legal persons were revised, and (1338) updated lists of insiders.

- Licensing (71) persons and (232) activities.

- Deciding on (1182) applications for nomination, registration and cancellation of registered positions and employment positions with the CMA.

- Approving the issuance of preference shares transferred into ordinary shares, which is the first issuance of its kind in the State of Kuwait since the CMA’s establishment.

- KWD 275,000,000 is the total value of approvals issued for debt instruments granted by the CMA.

- (43) merger and acquisition transactions executed by the CMA since its establishment until March 31, 2024 amounted to KWD 1,771,146,982.

- (359) financial and regulatory statements and reports were reviewed by the CMA, and (97) on-site supervision missions were completed.

- (18) awareness workshops were conducted, (10) awareness campaigns, issuance of (4) publications and (4) issues of the electronic awareness magazine, broadcasting (19) infographics and (8) motion graphics, and (282) awareness messages through the CMA’s social media accounts.

The CMA hopes that it has thus achieved its objectives stipulated in Law No. 7 of 2010 and its amendments.

Ends-
Notes to Editors:
The Capital Markets Authority was established pursuant to Law No. 7/2010, approved by the Kuwaiti Parliament in February 2010. Pursuant to the Law, the CMA shall regulate and supervise the securities activities, achieve transparency and fairness, observe listed companies’ execution of Corporate Governance regulations, and protect investors from unfair practices which violate the CMA's Law.

Furthermore, the Law's provisions stipulate the supervision of mergers, acquisitions, and disclosure operations. The CMA also aims to provide awareness programs related to securities activities.

For further information, please contact:
Public Relations & Media Office
Tel: 22903062
Fax: 22903505
Email: pr-media@cma.gov.kw