The Bahrain Stock Exchange reveals the “Ertiqaa” capital markets development plan until 2028

Hassan Al-Sitri – Photography by Suhail Wazir

5 main axes: expanding subscriptions, diversifying products, communication, readiness, and organizational efficiency

Al-Yousef: The market value of the Stock Exchange compared to the GDP is about 42%

Attracting investments, deepening liquidity, and linking the stock exchange to a number of regional stock exchanges

Upgrading the classification to an emerging market within a period of 3 to 5 years to attract investments

Khalifa bin Ibrahim: Implementing the plan in 3 stages: readiness in 2026, development in 2027, and expansion in 2028

The financial market contributes 42% of the GDP, with targets to reach 100%

Implementing 46 initiatives within 3 years to enhance liquidity and achieve greater transparency and flexibility

The Bahrain Stock Exchange, the stock exchange licensed by the Central Bank of Bahrain, revealed during a press conference yesterday the capital markets development plan 2026-2028 “Ertiqaa,” which aims to diversify products and services in the market, deepen liquidity levels, and facilitate operations, thus enhancing the market’s role in supporting the growth of the national economy.

The strategic plan seeks to achieve five main goals: developing the capital market system in Bahrain, providing high-quality services to all parties and dealers, enhancing market competitiveness and alignment with regional and international standards, increasing flexibility to adapt to changing market conditions, in addition to expanding and diversifying investment opportunities locally and regionally.

These objectives are based on 5 main axes, including: issuing shares and raising capital by expanding and regulating the path of initial public offerings, stimulating trading and diversifying products, strategic redirection of the regulatory framework and institutional structure to enhance the efficiency of decision-making, enhancing communication with issuers and investors through developing infrastructure and operational processes, in addition to enhancing digital readiness to improve services and procedures.

Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bahrain Bourse, Yousef Al-Yousef, said that the Bourse is committed to providing a safe and effective infrastructure for the capital market in accordance with the highest international standards, which contributes to facilitating capital raising operations for the government and private sectors, and provides investors with a transparent and easy-to-access market, stressing the continued work on developing the Bourse to be a basic pillar in supporting the growth and diversification of the Bahraini economy, and in line with the objectives of Bahrain Economic Vision 2030.

Al-Yousef added that the Bahrain Stock Exchange is one of the attractive stock exchanges in the region in terms of valuations and market value compared to the gross domestic product, as this percentage currently stands at about 42%, pointing out that the goal is to enhance the market’s contribution to reach higher levels in the coming years, and to work to raise the market’s classification to an emerging market within a period ranging from three to five years, which would attract additional foreign and institutional investments and enhance market efficiency.

He pointed out that the Bourse is working to align the objectives of its strategic plan with Bahrain’s Economic Vision 2030, with a focus on attracting foreign investments, deepening liquidity, and linking the Bahrain Stock Exchange to a number of regional stock exchanges in a way that enhances the market’s attractiveness and stimulates investment.

For his part, the CEO of the Bahrain Stock Exchange, Sheikh Khalifa bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, stressed that the plan reflects Bahrain’s ambition to build a more dynamic, transparent and sustainable market, and attract diverse and sustainable foreign direct investments that contribute to supporting economic growth in the long term.

He explained that the strategy is based on five main pillars aimed at attracting a broader base of investors, diversifying investment products, and facilitating and enhancing market operations, noting that the implementation of 46 initiatives over three years will focus on enhancing liquidity, achieving greater transparency and flexibility, and aligning the market with international standards to support opportunities for its reclassification and upgrade in the future.

He explained that the strategic initiatives are divided into initiatives that focus on developing the stock exchange itself, and others that focus on developing the market, and include expanding the path of initial public offerings, diversifying products, accelerating listing procedures, modernizing regulatory regulations, and enhancing digital readiness across the various stages of the value chain, in addition to developing the services provided to exporters and investors.

Sheikh Khalifa bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa indicated that the implementation of the plan will take place in three stages, where the year 2026 represents the “readiness and launch” stage, and the year 2027 is allocated to accelerating the development of the market, while the year 2028 focuses on integration, expansion and reaping results.

He explained that among the most prominent initiatives proposed are enhancing the activities of market makers, establishing an incubator for initial public offerings to support local and regional companies wishing to list, and improving the listing incentives program according to international standards.

He revealed the existence of a plan to list 8 new companies during the next three years, varying between government companies and the private sector, indicating that the expected listings will be a qualitative leap in the Bahraini financial market, as well as in the market value.

He pointed out that the listings will be in new sectors, including services, oil and gas, and industry, which will contribute to diversifying the market and the investor base as well.

The CEO of the Bahrain Stock Exchange indicated that work is being done to increase the number of listed companies and the market value, as this is a necessity for the financial market, explaining that the financial market aims to move from 42% of the domestic product to 100% in light of the availability of standards, adding that the presence of liquidity will enhance and correct prices, which contributes to increasing investor confidence.

The initiatives also include launching new products such as financial derivatives, futures contracts, options, and exchange-traded funds, enabling advanced trading tools such as short selling, margin trading, and securities lending and borrowing, in addition to developing digital systems and listing and disclosure portals, using electronic identity and digital “know your customer” procedures, extending trading hours, improving the closing auction mechanism, and attracting regional brokers.

Sheikh Khalifa bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa stressed that the main goal is to enhance liquidity, as this has a direct impact on improving pricing efficiency, raising investor confidence, and increasing capital flow, noting that developing the market infrastructure and expanding the investor base would contribute to improving valuations in the medium and long term.

He pointed out that the expected economic impacts include increasing capital flows, improving valuations, enhancing savings and retirement funds, financing economic development projects, expanding the capital market and creating new job opportunities, in addition to the possibility of upgrading the market in the future, as this may take about five years with continued progress in implementing the initiatives.

He stated that the success of implementing the plan depends on the integration of the roles of all relevant parties, stressing that developing the efficiency of trading and services requires work on all components of the system, including developing digital services, facilitating investors’ entry into the market, and enabling companies to finance their expansion through the capital market, which represents the fundamental role of stock exchanges in supporting economic growth.