Egyptian Stock Exchange regained investor confidence in 2012

EGX is in talks over a partnership with Istanbul Stock Exchange The management of the Egyptian Stock Exchange (EGX) amended its strategy over the past year from direct promotion, which may not be the best option right now, to focus more on strengthening and restoring the investor’s confidence .The biggest move in a bid to strengthen and improve the levels of control over trading in the Egyptian Exchange, was the launch of a new control system designed by Millennium IT, owned by the London Stock Exchange.
The system is being used in a large number of developed and emerging markets, and is classified as the best global trading surveillance system in the world because it increases the capabilities of the Exchange’s control over the movement of the daily trading and the disclosure of all forms of abuses or any abnormal or suspicious trading.
The Egyptian Exchange also focused on enhancing the level of the companies accounting disclosure in order to provide greater protection for the registered companies. Therefore, several meetings with heads of companies were held to raise awareness about the level of disclosure and the required coordination in order to help the companies facing problems during the disclosure process.
Furthermore, the past year has seen the Financial Supervisory Authority place an obligation on registered companies to have a website and provide their financial statements, data and news in order to support the process of the disclosure and access to information.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian Stock Exchange has launched other initiatives aimed at attracting more investment to the local market, notably the "FIX Hub" mechanism, which aims to facilitate the entry of foreign investors to the Egyptian market by linking the Egyptian Stock Exchange with about 175 global markets throughout the world. This will contribute to increasing liquidity in the market.
The Egyptian Stock Exchange is also on the verge of forming a partnership with the Istanbul Stock Exchange, which is one of the biggest markets in the region, in order to facilitate the entry of foreign investors to the Egyptian market.
The Stock Exchange recently launched a promotional campaign aimed at improving the image of Egypt to the outside world. As a result, it was given the right to host the annual conference of the African Securities Exchanges Association and the Eurasian Union conference in December 2012. The success of these conferences has contributed to changing the negative image of the situation in Egypt to a large extent, as it has assured investors that the situation is better than it appears on the screens of the world media.