UAE Sets Rules For Covered Warrants

The United Arab Emirates’ financial market regulator has issued rules allowing the issuance and trading of covered warrants, a step towards developing its equities market.

The Securities and Commodities Authority set conditions for banks and other companies to issue the listed, tradable instruments, which give investors the right to buy or sell stocks or other securities at specified prices.

The conditions, described in a statement posted on the SCA’s website this month, include a licensing regime for issuers of covered warrants and disclosure requirements.

The SCA also ordered studies of best international practice so that regulations covering the listing of bonds on the country’s securities markets can be passed in the first half of this year, the statement said, without elaborating.