The Commission for the Organisation and Supervision of Stock Market Operations (Cosob), which monitors the securities market in Algeria, has proposed to public authorities to explore the possibility of insurance companies serving as intermediaries in the stock market.
This new role for insurance companies could be provided for within the framework of a draft law regulating the financial market, reported Algeria Press Service, a state-owned news agency, quoting Cosob president, Mr Youcef Bouzenada.
Speaking at a press briefing held on the sidelines of a seminar on the revitalisation and strategy for a successful Algerian financial market, organised on 20 October by Cosob and the Algerian Union of Insurance and Reinsurance Companies (UAR), Mr Bouzenada said, “The Commission has formulated a proposal to the Ministry of Finance to introduce new provisions within the framework of a preliminary draft law on the financial market that will repeal legislative decree No. 93-10 of 23 May 1993, to grant insurance companies the possibility of obtaining approval as intermediaries in stock market operations alongside banks and companies created for this purpose."
Mr Bouzenada stressed the potential important role of insurance companies in the popularisation and revitalisation of the stock market "through their network, expertise, and highly qualified human resources".
"We want to give insurance companies the opportunity to act in the future as intermediaries in stock market operations, because they have enormous capacities that qualify them for this essential role in mobilising savings and financing the national economy," Mr Bouzenada explained during the media briefing.
Approval to act as stock market intermediaries is issued by Cosob, for activities such as providing investment advice for securities, individual management of the portfolios of securities and financial products of collective investment organisations, transactions on the intermediary's own account, as well as advice to companies on capital structure and mergers and acquisitions.
Mr Bouzenada said that the drafting of the law for the financial market had been entrusted to Cosob. In this context, several proposals were formulated, among others, the introduction of new provisions on green finance and the transformation of the status of Cosob as a national regulatory authority for the financial market.