7 main axes.. Ahmed El-Sheikh reveals the strategy for the advancement of the Egyptian Stock Exchange

The new head of the Egyptian Stock Exchange, Ahmed El-Sheikh, reviewed the initial features of the axes of his business strategy.

Al- sheikh is considering many important files and decisions in which he must take a decisive decision during the next few months, especially with regard to launching the carbon market and the index compatible with Islamic law, and renewing the trading system in the stock exchange.

Sheikh is one of the sons of the stock market

Al- Sheikh is not new to the Egyptian Stock Exchange, as he worked in various departments, headed the Trading Control Department, then Membership Affairs before becoming Vice President of the Stock Exchange in 2018 and continued in this position until his transition as Vice President of the General Authority for Financial Supervision in 2022.

Al-Sheikh intends to make the Egyptian Stock Exchange more effective, to qualify it to make Egypt a global financial center to attract investments, by building on what Ramy El-Dokani did during his one-year presidency of the Stock Exchange and launching the index that is compatible with Islamic law and the carbon market.

Close encounters

Al-  Sheikh begins implementing his strategy by holding a series of meetings aimed at achieving more rapprochement between the stock exchange and all the market parties, including the member companies of the stock exchange and the companies whose securities are listed, as well as the professional associations in the market and investors, in order to listen to their opinions and suggestions and share with them the development plans and agree on how to increase the activation rates of the various mechanisms and tools.

The capital market faces a major challenge in terms of attracting more successful companies to register and benefit from the stock exchange as a platform for obtaining the necessary funds for expansion, and this is what the new president intends to focus on according to a clear strategy announced Sunday morning.

A pivot of supply and demand and raising the quality of disclosures

According to the second axes of his strategy, Al- Sheikh will work to attract more local, regional and international institutions to invest in the Egyptian Stock Exchange, while working at the same time to increase the number of individual investors in particular.

In the third axis, Al-  Sheikh spoke in his statement today about activating the investor relations departments of the companies whose securities are listed on the stock exchange and raising the quality of disclosures in accordance with the best international practices to facilitate investors’ access to the information necessary to make the investment decision.

Modernization of the trading system and the use of technology

According to the statement, the priority of the Ahmed Al-Sheikh administration will be to develop the current trading system, which began operating in 2008 and now requires comprehensive development in order to provide the best mechanisms and technologies for trading systems in line with the conditions of regional competition. Work will be done to activate the system of borrowing for the purpose of selling with adjustments. necessary for its development.

As for the fifth axis of the strategy of the new Egyptian Stock Exchange chairman, it relates to the important role that technology can play in stimulating transactions in the stock exchange and attracting new categories of investors, especially young people and groups that prefer dealing through technological means.

New products and the fate of the real estate stock market

The sixth objective of the new chairman's strategy relates to continuing plans to establish a financial derivatives market and its settlement company, as well as the plan to launch an index compatible with Islamic law.

Al-  Sheikh pledged to continue working on developing sustainable financing operations through launching the carbon market, explaining that the stock exchange management aims for Egypt to become the main center for trading carbon certificates in the African continent.

With regard to the real estate stock exchange, Sheikh explained that work is currently underway to complete its legislative and regulatory framework with the aim of playing an effective role in further regulating the trading of real estate shares, and to enhance the capital market's contribution to accelerating the pace of growth of the real estate sector and related sectors.