Date: 30/04/2009

The Jordan Securities Commission (JSC) on Wednesday officially launched a new electronic surveillance system to control and monitor trading operations and practices in the stock market.

The new system, ARAMIS, will record trading operations in addition to providing electronic alarms to catch illegal practices in the financial market, according to JSC Chairman Bassam Saket.

“The surveillance system will follow up on clients, mediators and financial documents during trading sessions as well as electronically analysing financial documents,” he noted.

The system will control short-selling orders, monitor the trade caps of brokers and monitor and control percentage ownerships of securities, Saket said.

The 2.5 million euros project, funded by the EU, will improve the performance of JSC and the Securities Depository Centre, in addition to implementing the latest international practices in regulatory and trading systems technology, according to Atos Euronext, the French company which carried out the project.

The system will enhance the investment environment at the Amman Stock Exchange and protect Jordanian and non-Jordanian investors’ rights, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Suhair Al-Ali said during the launch ceremony.

Al-Ali pointed out that poor supervision and control of the financial sector by international governmental institutions led to the global financial crisis and the negative consequences it caused to world economies.
“Electronic surveillance tools which bring the capital markets under strong supervision would minimise illegal practices which harm this important sector,” she added.

Ambassador of the European Commission Delegation in Amman Patrick Renauld said that the global financial crisis shocked people’s confidence in investing in stock markets.
“Jordan is not immune from the crisis and the new system will help capital markets in Jordan overcome the downturn and resume financial activities,” he said.

Meanwhile, Amman Stock Exchange CEO Jalil Tarif noted that the system will prevent human mistakes in data entry and will tighten controls on market manipulation.