Capital Markets in the Gulf: International Access, Electronic Trading and Regulation
Posted: 15 May 2008
Abstract
Stock markets in the Gulf Region have experienced a significant growth in the recent past. Market performance, trading activity and market capitalization have increased by nearly triple digits annually.This development implicates two effects: on the one hand financial markets gain more attractiveness for international investors which hardly had access for a long time; on the other hand the region's exchanges are running through modernization in their market models, regulatory frameworks, functionalities and technical infrastructures. This paper will highlight recent stock market developments in the six Gulf Cooperating Council (GCC) countries against the background of international investors' requirements. The region's exchanges are characterized from an organizational and regulatory perspective with a focus on trading mechanisms. Recent approaches for modernizing and opening up GCC markets are investigated taking the Dubai International Financial Exchange (DIFX) as a case study.
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