SAFE meet to promote agenda of regional financial integration

The executive committee of South Asian Federation of Exchanges (SAFE) is holding its next meeting in Kathmandu on July 6-8 to move forward on the agenda of regional financial integration within the South Asian region.
The SAFE meeting will hold detailed deliberations with the SAARC Secretariat about the steps needed to be taken for economically integrating the region via a progressive programme of harmonisation of national regulatory standards within the region, according to the federation.
"The meeting will be significant as it will discuss the ways and means of liberalising the cross border frameworks related to investment advice, broking, dealing and management of portfolio investment functions," SAFE secretary general Aftab Ahmad Chaudhry, said, adding that one of the most significant initiative to be discussed at the upcoming meeting would be to liberalise the access to regional exchange memberships for all South Asian brokerage firms regardless of their domicile.
He further said that in future the investors may have the ability to send their trading orders and get the execution according to the rules to be framed by SAFE in consultation with the SAARC Secretariat.
The fundamental principles for integrating the regional markets would be transparency, equal treatment and equal access to all the members of the Exchanges of the region," he said, adding that in order to achieve regional integration of the region’s capital markets, it was also must that all countries in the regions should have similar market regulatory standards and frameworks.
South Asian Federation of Exchanges is a cooperative platform launched by the bourses in South Asia with a purpose to promote the development and harmonisation of the securities markets in the region. The SAFE stands to prepare and position its member markets for their orderly integration into the global financial system be enhancing the depth, inter-connectivity, integrity and transparency of its member markets.
The SAFE comprises 32 member entities of South Asia, Bahrain, Mauritius and UAE. It is the recognised body of the SAARC and is a network exchange association of the World Federation of Exchanges. Its permanent secretarial is located in Islamabad, Pakistan and serves as the central coordinating office.
On November 5-8, 2010, the SAFE has organised a SAFE Executive Leadership Forum meeting in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The programme featured a mix of lectures and case studies to be delivered by highly accomplished leaders both from the academic and corporate sector having education and training from institutions like Harvard, Yale, LSE and Wales.
Similarly, SAFE held its third conference on April 22, 2010 in Mauritius. The event hosted by MCX Stock Exchange (India) and Global Board of Trade (GBOT) Mauritius was attended by Adnan Afridi, chairman of SAFE also.