Abu Dhabi Securities Market (ADSM) yesterday (Tuesday 9 January) hosted a delegation of American students who were visiting Abu Dhabi to learn more about how the UAE financial markets operate.
The students, all undergraduates from Bentley College, Massachusetts, were give a tour of the market followed by a presentation about the UAE capital markets. The presentation examined capital market history, the establishment of official secondary markets in the UAE, and how trading and settlement works in the region.
There was also a particular focus on market regulation, which explained the role of both the Ministry of Economy and the Emirates Securities and Commodities Authority (ESCA) and their relationship with ADSM.
Rashed Al Baloushi, Acting Director General of ADSM, welcomed the Bentley students and said that the market regularly hosts training sessions and gives presentations to students from the UAE, but the opportunity to address international students was a rare one, but one that he hoped to see more of:
“We were delighted to meet so many young people enthusiastic to know more about how our market operates and is regulated,” he said.
“Education is one of the main objectives of our international best practices programme and we have valued being able to teach international visitors more about the UAE financial markets.
“We also found their feedback both useful and positive and we look forward to welcoming more students from both the UAE and other countries to ADSM.”
Since the end of 2001 the number of listed companies traded on ADSM has grown fourfold; there are now nearly six times as many brokerage firms; the aggregate market capitalisation of companies traded on the exchange is 20 times higher; there are 50 times as many shareholders registered and ADSM is a model emiratisation employer with UAE nationals making up about 74% of staff.
