Egyptian regulator tightens disclosure rules

The Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA) has moved to impose stricter disclosure rules on listed companies, reflecting the growing stature of the nation's stock market.

According to the Financial Times, EFSA chairman Ziad Bahaa El-Din is keen for firms to improve the quality and transparency of their quarterly results, while disclosing more information about changes to their capital structure before they start trading.

"Companies need to have more research published on them. Some companies do not allow analysts enough information," he told the newspaper.

Egypt's EGX 30 index has risen 4.1 per cent in the year so far and the nation's stock market is one of only two in the Arab world to receive emerging market status from MSCI Barra.

The managing director of a Cairo brokerage house said that while large companies generally meet the required standards, corporate governance concerns remain over small and medium-sized organisations.

He explained: "The issue is not so much regulation, but it is the enforcement of existing regulations."

The EFSA, which was formed only last year following the merger of three smaller regulators, describes its remit as "the supervision of non-bank financial markets and instruments".