AMMAN,8 April 2007 — Chairman of the governors board of the Iraqi stock market, Taleb Tabtabai, revealed on Thursday that the Baghdad bourse intended to shift into “electronic trading” after four months.
“The Iraqi stock exchange will transfer from paper trading to electronic trading after four months,” Tabtabai told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting in Jordan that seeks to evaluate the Iraqi banking sector.
“However, we are not going to list all firms at the same time because we have to assume vigilance as we shift into a new experiment in order to avoid committing mistakes,” he added.
The present Iraqi stock exchange, which is run in accordance with the open market economy rules, was established after a US-led world military coalition toppled the regime of former president Saddam Hussein.
About 100 firms are listed on the Iraqi stock market, which holds two 2-hour trading sessions a week. Last year, turnover at the Iraqi stock exchange reached 146 billion Iraqi dinars ($115 million).
Tabtabai said that the board of governors intended to choose the Iraqi Settlements Bank for channeling investments of foreigners who wanted to trade Iraqi stocks, now the new national investment law received the consent of the president and was published in the official gazette. “We are receiving an increasing number of applications by foreigners who deem the investment in Iraqi stocks profitable,” he said.
“The Baghdad bourse is one of the rare Iraqi institutions that operate at the time being in a transparent and efficient manner despite the deteriorating security situation,” he added.