By Mark DeWeaver. On March 3, the ISX posted the following notification on its website: “No institution or competent body has requested a license to act as custodian pursuant to Decree No. 17 of 2012. “Therefore, the Depository Centre remains the sole body conducting the transfer of securities from the account of the investor [registered] […]
Earlier this month, the Iraq Securities Commission (ISC) announced that it would be moving against violations of its Regulation 16, which covers insider trading. Effective July 1, the Commission threatened to bar violators from trading and to cancel their trades. Regulation 16 defines insiders as including members of a company’s board of directors and their […]
So far this year Iraqi stocks have been surprisingly oblivious to three very bullish developments. The Iraq Securities Commission has finally issued its instruction on custodian bank licenses. (See this post for more on custodian banks.) The European Central Bank (ECB) is running its printing presses at maximum capacity. And earnings are up sharply at […]
According to a report from Reuters, with better regulation and the expected listing of the country's three main mobile phone firms, foreign investors are increasingly choosing Iraq's stock market as a lucrative investment. Iraq's bourse is still tiny in comparison with other regional or international stock markets, but a drop in violence since the peak […]
At the end of last month, the Iraq Securities Commission (ISC) announced new rules on stock suspensions. Effective September 1, trading is to recommence no more than four months after general assembly meetings when rights issues are announced and immediately otherwise. Pre-general assembly suspensions are limited to one week. This new schedule is a big […]
Winston Churchill once likened observing Soviet politics to “watching two dogs fighting under a carpet.” All you can say for sure is that something’s going on. The latest news on Warka Bank has exactly this 'subcarpet' quality. The ISC has ordered Warka’s brokerage subsidiary to stop its operations in the market effective July 26 following […]
On August 8, the Iraq Securities Commission (ISC) announced that a total of 18 companies would be suspended for failing to submit their 2009 financials. Of these, 6 had already been suspended for never having submitted 2008 financials. (See the table for a complete list of the companies.) As of August 25, only four of […]
So far two subscription periods for Warka Bank’s ID 150 bn rights issue have come and gone without any official announcement of the results. The last date for existing shareholders to subscribe was May 16. As most of them did not take up their rights, there was a subsequent public offering open to everyone except […]
