The head of the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange said he was thrilled by the UAE's upgrade to emerging markets status but that it should not deter the stock market and the financial community from having bigger ambitions.
"We will not stop. Our ambitions are bigger. We will continue our development and look at best practices and standards globally," said Rashed Al Baloushi, the chief executive of the Abu Dhabi bourse. "In a short while we are going to put a timeline with a strategy and objectives to tackle them one by one to attain 'developed markets' status by all the benchmarks - MSCI, Russell's, and Standard & Poor's."
On Wednesday, MSCI upgraded the UAE to emerging markets status, nearly five years after the country first became a qualifying candidate in 2008. During this period, questions related to foreign investment limits, infrastructure and liquidity have been cited as concerns by international institutional investors.
The UAE has actively engaged with MSCI to alleviate some of its concerns. One of its biggest examples is the introduction and the advancement of the delivery-versus-payment mechanism, in which securities are delivered and payment is received on the same day.
Mr Al Baloushi, along with his staff, and a handful from the UAE financial community remained awake until the early hours to hear the verdict.
"The mood was really tense," he said. "I was chatting with some of our employees. By the time the statement landed at 1am, it took us a few seconds to digest the statement to understand if we were upgraded or not," Mr Al Baloushi said.
The statement said: "MSCI will reclassify the MSCI UAE Index to Emerging Markets as part of the May 2014 Semi-Annual Index Review."
The bourse chief was caught by surprise, he said, as he read through MSCI's statement, which said: "International institutional investors recognised the improvements made by the Emirati regulator (Security and Commodities Authority), the Dubai Financial Market and the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange with respect to the DVP model."
"By the time it hit us, we were shocked," Mr Al Baloushi said. "Immediately the text messages started pouring in with congratulatory comments from our employees, the custodians, the brokers and fund managers. They have been thanking us, but at the end of the day it was a combined effort. Everyone participated towards the upgrade in one way or another."
Separately, Dubai's bourse chief said he has been actively engaging with foreign institutional investors in a bid to win their confidence ahead of the upgrade.
Essa Kazim, the chief executive of the Dubai Financial Market, said he had participated in "productive discussions with institutional investors via a series of meetings held in the global financial centres".
The point of these discussions "was not only to explain measures taken but to also listen to their remarks and feedback on further initiatives to follow," Mr Kazim added.
Hamed Ali, the acting chief executive of Nasdaq Dubai, said the decision could spur the creation of new markets as well as attract greater equity and debt listings to the UAE.
halsayegh@thenational.ae
From Conquest to Deportation
Jeronim Perovic, Hurst
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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SPECS
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The%20specs
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SQUADS
Bangladesh (from): Shadman Islam, Mominul Haque, Soumya Sarkar, Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Mahmudullah Riyad, Mohammad Mithun, Mushfiqur Rahim, Liton Das, Taijul Islam, Mosaddek Hossain, Nayeem Hasan, Mehedi Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Ebadat Hossain, Abu Jayed
Afghanistan (from): Rashid Khan (capt), Ihsanullah Janat, Javid Ahmadi, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Asghar Afghan, Ikram Alikhil, Mohammad Nabi, Qais Ahmad, Sayed Ahmad Shirzad, Yamin Ahmadzai, Zahir Khan Pakteen, Afsar Zazai, Shapoor Zadran
THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UK-EU trade at a glance
EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years
Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products
Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries
Smoother border management with use of e-gates
Cutting red tape on import and export of food
Famous left-handers
- Marie Curie
- Jimi Hendrix
- Leonardo Di Vinci
- David Bowie
- Paul McCartney
- Albert Einstein
- Jack the Ripper
- Barack Obama
- Helen Keller
- Joan of Arc
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
Company%C2%A0profile
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The biog
Name: Sarah Al Senaani
Age: 35
Martial status: Married with three children - aged 8, 6 and 2
Education: Masters of arts in cultural communication and tourism
Favourite movie: Captain Corelli’s Mandolin
Favourite hobbies: Art and horseback ridding
Occupation: Communication specialist at a government agency and the owner of Atelier
Favourite cuisine: Definitely Emirati - harees is my favourite dish
<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html" charset="UTF-8" /></head><body><!--PSTYLE=* Labels%3aFH Label 18 Sport--><p>Beach soccer</p><!--PSTYLE=BY Byline--><p>Amith Passela</p><p /></body></html>
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Results
6.30pm: Mazrat Al Ruwayah Group Two (PA) US$55,000 (Dirt) 1,600m; Winner: Rasi, Harry Bentley (jockey), Sulaiman Al Ghunaimi (trainer).
7.05pm: Meydan Trophy (TB) $100,000 (Turf) 1,900m; Winner: Ya Hayati, William Buick, Charlie Appleby.
7.40pm: Handicap (TB) $135,000 (D) 1,200m; Winner: Bochart, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
8.15pm: Balanchine Group Two (TB) $250,000 (T) 1,800m; Winner: Magic Lily, William Buick, Charlie Appleby.
8.50pm: Handicap (TB) $135,000 (T) 1,000m; Winner: Waady, Jim Crowley, Doug Watson.
9.25pm: Firebreak Stakes Group Three (TB) $200,000 (D) 1,600m; Winner: Capezzano, Mickael Barzalona, Salem bin Ghadayer.
10pm: Handicap (TB) $175,000 (T) 2,410m; Winner: Eynhallow, Mickael Barzalona, Charlie Appleby.
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
'Texas Chainsaw Massacre'
Rating: 1 out of 4
Running time: 81 minutes
Director: David Blue Garcia
Starring: Sarah Yarkin, Elsie Fisher, Mark Burnham