Pact to position Muscat and Frankfurt Main as financial hubs

BUSINESS REPORTER

MUSCAT, MARCH 27

The Capital Market Authority (CMA) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Frankfurt Main Finance of Germany to enhance cooperation in the field of financial centres and development of regulatory infrastructures, as well as to benefiting from international experience in financial services and the regulation and supervision of financial institutions.

The MoU, signed over the weekend, aims to create a cooperation framework to enhance the positions of the cities of Muscat and Frankfurt Main as financial hubs in addition to exchange of information on financial markets, supporting and encouraging financial institutions in Muscat and Frankfurt Main Finance to expand.

The agreement came on the sidelines of the meeting of the board of directors of the World Alliance of International Financial Centres (WAIFC) held in Kigali, Rwanda. The CMA is a founder member of WAIFC, which was established in 2018 to bring the global financial centres under the WAIFC for exchange of ideas and business development.

The CMA participated in the meeting with a delegation chaired by Shaikh Abdullah Salim al Samli, Executive President of the Capital Market Authority and including Abdullah Salim al Rubiei, Director of Communications, Media and External Relations Department, and member of the board of directors of WAIFC.

The MoU was signed in the context of the distinguished relationship between the Sultanate of Oman and the Federal Republic of Germany and is considered an opportunity to achieve cooperation and communications between the markets for the transfer of expertise and information that would enhance the efficiency of the regulatory and supervisory frameworks in the two countries, and would avail an opportunity to acquaint with and access the technical and administrative capabilities of the two institutions to develop the legislative and regulatory systems for the protection of the participants of the stock markets and to enhance investor confidence which would reflect positively on the national interests in the two countries.

It is worth to note that WAIFC aims to enhance cooperation between the member countries for exchange of information, expertise and adopting best practices in the business of financial institutions including fintech, green investment, infrastructure, creation of databases for financial centres, financing small and medium enterprises and the role of financial centres in financing the economy.