In its annual meeting held on Sunday March 28, 2004, the Securities Depository Center (SDC)’s General Assembly discussed the SDC’s annual report which contains the Chairman’s statement, the SDC’s most important accomplishments and achievements during the year 2003, its future plan; in addition to the financial statements and the auditor’s report. The SDC’s General Assembly consists of public shareholding companies, brokers, and custodians

In his statement, the SDC’s Chairman, Mr. Loay Mismar, referred to the cooperation between the SDC and its members and their efforts which have lead to an increase in the percentage of authenticated shares of 85% of the total number of issued shares of 198 public shareholding company. The Chairman urged members to use the Issuers’ System through on-line communication with the SDC where the number of members directly linked with the SDC reached 60 by the end of 2003 and reiterated that this service facilitates the member’s daily operations and serves his shareholders.

The Chairman also confirmed that the SDC’s Board of Directors has reviewed all the by-laws and instructions in force at the SDC and has made the necessary amendments to them in accordance with the Securities Law No. (76) for the Year 2002.

The SDC’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Samir Jaradat, reviewed the SDC’s accomplishments during the year 2003, most important of which was the implementation of the "Account Level" stage where each investor has a number of securities’ accounts for the same security. This stage has contributed to organizing the relationship between brokers and their clients and authenticating securities ownership. This stage emerged as a result of the previous stages and has enabled the broker to maintain securities accounts for his clients where the securities are registered in the those accounts and within the securities deposited in those accounts, as such, the broker may only sell those securities in accordance with his client’s authorization.

This stage enabled shareholders to benefit from other services such as obtaining a statement of account, which includes the total number of securities owned by the shareholder and the distribution of these securities among various accounts maintained by his brokers, in addition to an application to freeze his securities to prevent any disposal of those securities. All in line to enhance the confidence of investors in Jordanian securities in the Jordan Capital Market and safeguard their ownership.

Mr. Jaradat announced the updating of the SDC’s website which contains complete information in both Arabic and English as a first stage. At a later stage, the SDC will add further information regarding securities which will include details of the shareholders’ registers on the website in accordance with the legislations in force.

Mr. Jaradat confirmed that one of its future plans during this year is the implementation of the "Delivery Versus Payment" principle where the value of traded securities will be paid through a Settlement Bank under the SDC’s supervision. This is the last stage of clearing & settlement and is considered very important since all markets in the world long to achieve this. He also added that new services will be offered for large financial institutions domestically and internationally. The SDC will provide the investor with a new service that will enable him to follow up all or part of his investments through the SDC website where the investor may enquire of his securities’ accounts maintained by his brokers.

In the end, the Chairman stated that the SDC assets have increased by (17.3%) to a value of (3,309,378) Jordanian Dinars and the net surplus for the year was (944,491) Dinars.

The Securities Depository Center is a public utility institution established by virtue of the Securities Law as a legal person with administrative and financial autonomy and is the only entity in the Kingdom that is legally empowered to oversee the registration, deposit, and ownership transfer of securities and the clearance & settlement of securities transactions.