JORDAN: Amman Stock Exchange Publishes New Listing and Regulating Directives for Trading In Unlisted Securities

Monday July 18 2016

The Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) has announced that it will start applying “The Regulating Directives for Trading in Unlisted Securities at the ASE on 4th of August, 2016 to coincide with the application of the “Listing Securities Directives for the year 2016”.

The issued directives introduce new concepts taking into consideration international standards in transparency and disclosure, and introduce mechanisms for trading in unlisted securities in a separate market (Over-The-Counter (OTC) Market).

In accordance with the new Directives, the OTC Market has been introduced to give shareholders of unlisted companies and listed companies that are suspended from trading the opportunity to sell their shares through an electronic system prepared for this purpose according to supply and demand.

Companies which will be allowed to trade in the OTC Market are:

• companies that were delisted from the ASE and still registered in the Ministry of Trade and Industry`s records as public shareholding companies;
• newly established private or public shareholding companies;
• public or private shareholding companies which have never been listed at the ASE which are to be listed at the JSC and the SDC; and 
• listed companies which are suspended from trading on the organised market, and are temporarily transferred to be traded in the OTC market.

According to Directives, the SDC shall provide the ASE, on the effective date of these Directives, with a list of securities of all companies mentioned to enable the ASE to take the necessary action to start trading in these shares on the OTC Market.

The trading time in the market will be as laid out below within the continuous trading group:

Phase                                                                    Time

Inquiry                                                                8:30 –    9:45

Pre-Opening                                                      9:45 –     9:50+

Opening                                                             9:50 +

Continuous Trading                                         9:50+ – 10:15

Block Trades                                                     12:30 –   12:45

The Directives gives the traded companies in the OTC market the right to submit an application to list their shares in the Second Market after fulfilling all listing conditions in the ASE organised market.

When the Listing Securities Directives and The Regulating Directives for Trading in Unlisted Securities at the ASE are effective, the third market will be cancelled as of 16th April 2017 and the companies listed at the Third market will be transferred to the Second market if they fulfil its listing conditions. Companies which do not meet the listing conditions will be delisted and transferred to be traded in the OTC Market.

The most important amendments included in the Listing Directives for the year 2016 were:

• suspending direct trading on the company`s shares if it doesn`t provide its reviewed audited annual reports and reviewed interim reports at the specified date;
•  until the company provides the ASE with the required reports the competent authority that issued the decision of suspension of the listed companies` shares on the ASE organised market has the right to transfer the shares of the suspended company to the OTC market.

The Listing Securities Directives for 2016 allowed for the first time the listing of private companies` shares at the ASE upon their request.

Click on the link above for further details