Abu Dhabi: The third meeting of the heads of securities regulators in member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) was held here yesterday.

The meeting, presided over by Abdullah Al Turaifi, Chief Executive Officer of the Emirates Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA), discussed a number of issues, including proposals from the UAE, Qatar and Kuwait.

The UAE proposal deals with the restructuring of the financial regulatory systems, while the Qatari and Kuwaiti proposals deal with the signing of memorandum of understanding among GCC regulators to boost cooperation and the setting up of a resource centre for GCC securities markets respectively.

The meeting also discussed other issues, including the integration of GCC securities markets and unifying of their policies and regulations, the latest dev-elopments on securities markets in member states, the outcome of the recommendations made during the conference on the "Restructuring the Regulatory System of Financial Sector".

New challenges

In his opening address, Al Turaifi said the meeting was being held in light of the rapid developments securities market worldwide are witnessing, particularly developments in securities market supervision and monitoring methods, which had imposed new challenges to the securities regulators.

He also said that to face these challenges a number of regulators have taken steps towards the restructuring of their supervisory method by shifting to the twin-peak model.

"In view of the significance of this issue, the SCA hosted last January a conference on "Restructuring the Regulatory System of Financial Sector", the recommendations issued during that conference are now a major point on the agenda of this meeting," he said.

Abdullah Bin Juma Al Shibli, Assistant Secretary General for Economic Affairs at the GCC Secretariat, also delivered a keynote address in which he thanked the UAE for hosting the meeting.

The meeting also discussed a project proposed by the UAE on the restructuring of securities regulatory systems.

A number of models from various parts of the world were tabled for review and consideration.

It also agreed on the date of the next meeting, scheduled for June 5 and 6 in Abu Dhabi.