UAE Permits Securities Lending for NBAD

UAE’s Securities and Commodities Authoirty (SCA) has approved the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) to engage in securities lending and borrowing activities.

The approval marks the first within the UAE capital markets, and could bolster the securities industry as the region looks set to capitalise from foreign institutional investment.

According to the SCA, it aims to, “to increase market depth and attractiveness through providing advanced financial instruments that enable investors to borrow and lend securities according to mechanisms and procedures that guarantee the rights and liabilities of all market actors.”

Last year, the MSCI reclassified the UAE from a frontier market to an emerging market.