The Gulf Bond and Sukuk Association (GBSA), in partnership with Dentons and Standard Chartered Bank, has held its inaugural debt capital market conference in Oman. The conference, which gathered senior government officials with over 100 leaders from the corporate, financial, legal and regulatory communities, coincided with an intensification of sukuk and bond issuance activity in the Sultanate. Hamood Sangour Al-Zadjali, Executive President of Central Bank of Oman, delivered the opening keynote speech, stating: "The government raises debt for fiscal requirements and managing liquidity in financial markets. The pricing of these issuances also helps in developing a yield curve which could be a benchmark for other interest rates." "Led by the Oman government, more Oman based companies have taken advantage of bond/sukuk markets to extend their liability profiles and diversify their investor bases," said Michael Grifferty, President of the Gulf Bond and Sukuk Association. "We salute the hard work of the Capital Market Authority in strengthening the framework and regulations for the issuance of fixed income instruments," noted Sadaf Buchanan, Partner, Dentons. "The new rules under consideration for sukuk should provide considerably more certainty for the process and improve the prospects for companies to fund in the capital market." Gurcharan Kadan, Chief Executive Officer, Standard Chartered Bank, Oman, said: "Supporting this conference as a leading international bank reflects our deep commitment to further developing the Oman national market. Standard Chartered's history of 47 years in Oman, industry knowledge and expertise position us well to advise and provide clients with innovative fund raising solutions. Carla Slim, regional economist at Standard Chartered Bank kicked off the conference with an assessment of the GCC region economic outlook. A panel discussion led by Alex Roussos, Partner, Dentons on bond and sukuk transactions followed, featuring leading corporate and regulatory experts. Sarmad Mirza, Head of Corporate Debt Capital Markets, Middle East North Africa Pakistan, Standard Chartered Bank, led a buy-side panel that shed light on current investor preferences. GBSA's working groups and National Chapters bring together the thought leaders of the regional credit markets to create a more collective voice on key issues affecting the industry.
