Capital Markets

June 2014 marked the 25th anniversary of trading on the bourse, which began operating as the Bahrain Stock Exchange in 1989. The market looks to have recovered from the global financial crisis, and in 2013 posted an 18.9% year-on-year increase in market capitalisation, with the trend continuing into 2014, with a 21.7% rise to BD8.47bn ($22.45bn) at the end of September 2014. The banking sector accounts for the bulk of activity, with commercial banks comprising 69.16% of the value of all shares traded in the first nine months of 2014. In a drive to increase liquidity the Bahrain Bourse has recently extended its trading day, and in July 2014 it upgraded its NASDAQ OMX trading platform from the Horizon platform to the X-stream system. Moreover, positive steps to encourage more trading – particularly within the GCC – have been taken, while discussions are also under way to increase listings, including development of a specific framework under which SMEs might be attracted to trade on the exchange.

This chapter contains an interview with Khalifa bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, CEO, Bahrain Bourse; and a viewpoint from Najla M Al Shirawi, CEO, Securities & Investment Company.