Argaam gold sponsor of 13th MEIRA conference

Argaam Investment Co. recently sponsored the 13th edition of the Middle East Investor Relations Association (MEIRA) conference, which specializes in discussing the best practices and professional standards related to investor relations (IR) and the application of corporate governance.

This event honors the leading companies in the IR sector.

The annual conference, held under the theme “An Odyssey, from Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) to Investor Relations (IR)”, was attended by some of the region’s most recognisable regulators, listed firms, investors, research analysts and advisers.

The MEIRA conference continues to demonstrate the heightened importance that ESG factors play in attracting investment to and sustaining growth across capital markets.

The Middle East’s largest gathering of IR professionals included topical discussions of relevance to the investor relations community, focusing on championing sustainability and the ongoing digitalization of work.

“It is always important for our association to pay tribute to the efforts to support the ecosystem of our broader regional market,” said Andrew Tarbuck, Chair of MEIRA.

“Today we are spoiled by the calibre and seniority of our speakers, from the exchanges to the issuers and of course, all of our important supporting intermediaries, including the sell-side, who help us, understand and engage with the investment community and other stakeholders.”

He pointed to increasing progress this year as the capital markets are teeming with activities from new and existing issuers, which confirms that there is no shortage of initial public offerings or other capital raising opportunities.

“We have also seen a growing appetite from more international institutional and individual investors, and of course, recognition that investors have more options as there are other markets outside the region.

“With opportunity comes responsibility, we operate in regulated capital markets where there is a real premium on governance, the right sort of behaviors expected by investors and increasingly, other stakeholders, policy-makers, regulators, exchanges, to name just a few big ones and ultimately, our public investors,” Tarbuck stated.

Among the keynote speakers at the event included Guy Opperman, UK Minister of Work, Pensions and Financial Inclusion; Mohammed Al-Rumaih, Chief Executive Officer of the Saudi Exchange (Tawadul) and Hana Al Rostamani, Group CEO at First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB). Other C-suite speakers included Haitham bin Salem Al Salmi, CEO of the Muscat Stock Exchange, Iman Abdel Khalek, Co-Head of CEEMEA Debt Capital Markets at Citigroup, and Khatija Haque, Head of Research and Chief Economist at Emirates NBD.

Argaam's sponsorship of this year's conference coincides with the development of several pages for shareholder relations for number of listed companies, as well as programming special applications for shareholder relations for the IOS and Android operating systems, using the technology provided by Argaam Financial Portal, in addition to the financial indicators and information in the Argaam database that investors need.

Established in 2008, the MEIRA annual conference and awards has been an industry platform committed to improving the profession of IR by facilitating constructive dialogue among issuers, regulators, stock exchanges, analysts and investors, among others. The annual event has become a catalyst for driving strong stakeholder engagement and communication, as well as improving transparency in regional capital markets.

Argaam gold sponsor of the 13th edition of the Middle East Investor Relations Association (MEIRA) conference

Mohammed Al-Rumaih, CEO of the Saudi Exchange (Tadawul), addresses the conference

Iyad A. Al-Garawi, General Manager, Board Affairs & Corporate Governance, Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC), shares his views on ESG with the audience