During a presentation held on Thursday 18/10/2001 at the Securities Depository Center - The Capital Market Building, Mr. Samir Jaradat, CEO of the Securities Depository Center (SDC) emphasized the importance of the current stage of development of the SDC and its procedures.

The SDC has successfully accomplished the first and second stages of its development. These two stages included the registration of securities, the identification of clients and issuers and the issuance of electronic deeds.

The SDC is now embarking upon the implementation of stage three of its development, Depositing of Securities. Mr. Samir said that the Depositing of Securities stage mainly deals with the transfer of the shareholders records and their balances from the Issuers (Public Shareholder Companies) to the central registry at the SDC through special electronic systems for depositing. The system will also enable the SDC to transfer the ownership of securities by book entries in the central registry.

Mr. Samir also remarked that this stage is considered of the utmost importance and an extremely delicate and sensitive stage, hence, it is necessary to adopt suitable and appropriate measures of implementation. The SDC has started by preparing the "Regulations on the Registration, Depository and Settlement of Securities". These Regulations will come into effect after the Board of Commissioner of the Jordan Securities Commission approves them. In addition, the public shareholding companies have been made aware of the importance of updating their records so that the information and data contained therein are correct and accurate, in preparation of transferring these records to the SDC. For the transfer of these records an electronic system is being built locally specifically for this purpose.

Mr. Samir added that investors through a shareholders awareness campaign, which started, on the seventh of this month, have been approached. This campaign, through local newspapers in addition to flyers distributed to all P.O. Boxes in Jordan, is aimed at all Jordanian investors. The campaign is also directed to non-Jordanian investors through regional newspapers. The campaign stresses the importance of maintaining the correct ownership of the shareholders (Jordanian and non-Jordanian) in the Jordan Capital Market, by authenticating the information and data related to them. Shareholders should contact the appropriate shareholder sections at public shareholding companies to register their full name, address, nationality and the national number or the SDC number in order to get their share transcripts converted into an electronic registry.

The Depositing of Securities stage will be followed by the implementation of one of the most important international standards; Delivery versus Payment, where the delivery of deposited securities will be simultaneous, final and irrevocable against payment of funds. This will accomplish the mission of the SDC of building a National Center for Securities that will be an integral part of a transparent, viable, fair and efficient Capital Market in Jordan to inspire domestic and international investor confidence and contribute to the wealth of the nation.

In the end, Mr. Samir stated that the SDC since inception has sought to become a model depository in the Middle East Region. Its goals are: to build a modern organization which adheres to standards related to clearing and settlement, to implement state of the art systems, to minimize risks associated with clearing and settlement of trades, in addition, to instill public and investor confidence and to provide a fair, viable and efficient environment for investments in the Jordan Capital Market.