Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) in cooperation with the Department of Finance and Banking / Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences held a lecture at the University in the presence of the Dean of Faculty Dr. Mohammad Taamneh, and the Head of the Department of Finance and Banking Dr. Dima Al-Rabadi, and a number of faculty members, and university students.
The CEO of the ASE Mr. Nader Azar presented a lecture entitled "Developments in the ASE -Opportunities and Challenges" in which he reviewed about the legislative, technical and quantitative developments witnessed by the ASE, the challenges facing the securities industry, and the role of the capital market institutions in providing an attractive environment for investment, especially in light of the national economy's openness on foreign investment.
Azar explained that the has started the implementation of a strategy plan for the becoming three years (2016-2018) which included a set of strategic objectives namely as: strengthening the investment environment in the ASE, strengthening the legislative and technical environment of the ASE, enhancing the presence of the ASE at the regional and international levels, developing the investment awareness by financial securities, and developing the mechanism of the ASE work and achieving organizational excellence.
Azar also said that there are a number of important projects will be implemented in the near future, the ASE will implement a new version of the trading system (Optiq), and XBRL Disclosure System.
Azar added that the ASE is keen to be transformed to a public shareholding company totally owned by the government as a first step, and then the second step is to go through an IPO. This will realize further benefits for the ASE, the shareholders and the national economy in future. The Change of the legal status will provide for more flexibility and help the ASE to diversify services and products as well as concluding agreements with the regional and international exchanges. Thus, the ASE competence will be enhanced; its liquidity and capacity to attract new investments will be increased.
Also Azar explained that the ASE was affected by external conditions and regional and international crises as the other exchanges in the region. The economic situation of the Kingdom is affected, in general, and the performance of the ASE is affected, in particular, by these conditions. In spite of these conditions in the region, the ASE is considered as a magnet for Arab and foreign investors, where the foreign investments at the ASE are considered as a confidence certificate in the national economy and in the Jordanian capital market, which allows non-Jordanian to invest by shares without restrictions or conditions.
The meeting includes Q&A sessions, where Azar encouraged the students to make a field visit to the ASE to have an overview on the practical side and attend the daily trading session. It is worth mentioning that this event witnessed a remarkable attendance from students and those who are interested in trading securities.
