Mubasher: The CEO of Bahrain Bourse, Khalifa Al Khalifa, said he got involved in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) back in 2017.
Al Khalifa said during the Arab Federation of Capital Markets (AFCM) annual conference in Oman: “We went on a road trip to one of the countries in Europe and met some of the asset managers, and just back then, the thought of the ESG was could see the ESG in the news, so my thought was just it is flavour of the month, don’t pay much attention to it.”
The CEO added: “And as soon as we sat with the asset managers, we wanted to get on the prestation as a hard copy, then two of the asset managers – they don’t know each other – just refused it and said no it’s our policy to be as digital as possible, and I was surprised that to this level they are dedicated to it.”
Al Khalifa noted: “I kept reading more and understanding more on the ESG, which led me to believe that it is something essential and has to be embedded in the organization, whether it is the operations, management, and obviously both levels. So, we went back and started it and we issued in June 2020 ESG guidelines.”
For the investor relations (IR) part, the official commented by saying: “We know now that the ESG is more wanted than ever, especially with that COP28 will be very close to us in the region in the UAE – coming up this year. The discussion COP27 within capital market has been also strong.”
It is worth noting that in November 2022, Bahrain Bourse participated in the general assembly meeting of the AFCM, with the attendance of Al Khalifa along with various CEOs of stock exchanges and Arab clearing and depository companies.
During that meeting, Bahrain Bourse was re-elected as a member of the AFCM’s board of directors, with the Saudi Exchange (Tadawul) representing the Arab Gulf region.
Al Khalifa stated back then: “Bahrain Bourse is keen to support the development of the capital markets sector by actively participating in regional and international federations. As an active member in the AFCM, we look forward to enhance the investment environment by promoting the various investment opportunities available in the region."
It is worth mentioning that Bahrain Bourse received the “Best ESG Initiative” Accolade by Pan Finance Awards in 2021. The CEO commented on the received awards, saying: “Those awards reflect upon Bahrain Bourse exceptional performance and commitment towards governance, transparency, and compliance, as well as our continuous efforts to promote responsible sustainability practices and ESG disclosure within the capital market.”
