Egypt's FSA Chief Ashraf El-Sharkawy has taken part in the 7th Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Regulators' Summit hosted by Doha, Qatar which has been from 25-26 February, 2013. The GCC Regulators' Summit aims to discuss the major challenges faced by the region in order to achieve its regulatory and organizing goals. The summit also targets enhancing the cooperation relations among the supervisory authorities participating in the Conference so as to exchange expertise and to coordinate in fields of financial services for the non-banking markets. In his opening speech, El-Sharkawy has tackled the impact of the Arab Spring uprising on the stability of the non-banking financial markets. He has also reviewed the procedures taken after resuming the trading sessions in the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) in order to face the risks of having a collapse in the non-banking financial markets. During the two days, the GCC Regulators' Summit has tackled multiple challenges and issues followed by the Financial Crisis in 2008. The conference has reviewed the issue of organizing the regulatory systems for the different sectors of the non-banking financial markets. Delegates have discussed emergent regulatory trends during the first day including the Arab Spring's effect, the GCC unified regulatory approaches, and the new rules, regulations and supervisory initiatives to govern securities. The first day has featured discussion about the impact of extraterritorial legislation, the new developments in global banking regulations, building a compliance culture, and corporate governance in the GCC. During the second day, Daniel Gallagher, Commissioner, the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission, has delivered the keynote speech followed by four sessions focusing on supervision of capital markets and exchanges, enforcement, anti-money laundering and due diligence, and sanctions compliance in response to continuous change. The GCC Regulators' Summit remains the Middle East's premier event on the topics of regulation, compliance, risk and governance, providing a perfect platform for regulators and financial professionals to meet and discuss challenges, propose solutions and share best practice in a unique conference experience. The summit has covered key themes including the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), harmonized regional regulatory approaches, risk management, anti-money laundering, international sanctions, data security, new international core principles (Basel III, IAIS, IOSCO), GCC securities activities and trends, and many more. The 7th GCC Regulators' Summit has attracted over 400 pre-qualified senior delegates from the governance, risk and compliance community, in addition to regional and international regulators and other financial organizations. Among the top speakers are Michael Ryan, Chief Executive Officer, Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority; Ian Johnston, Chief Executive, Dubai Financial Services Authority; Tajinder Singh, Deputy Secretary General, The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO); and Dr. Ashraf El-Sharkawy, the Chairman of the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA).
