Date: 30/01/2007

During the year 2006 the Securities Depository Center (SDC) continued to provide services and perform the tasks entrusted to it as one of the most effective capital market institutions in the Kingdom. The feature that most likely distinguished SDC’s performance during the past year is its support services, which the SDC was keen to upgrade and develop continuously whether to its members of public shareholding companies, brokers and custodians in particular, or the category of investors in the capital market of Jordan in general.

One of the most prominent services offered to investors was the online account viewing service, which enables investors to view their portfolios and follow up their investments and view balance statements and transactions executed on their accounts by their broker or custodian. This service, which is provided through SDC’s official website, is free of charge for investors who wish to benefit from it, and each investor is given a special username and a password for this purpose.

Furthermore, the SDC worked on updating its website for the purpose of providing new services and information regarding the capital market in general and the SDC in particular. The SDC exclusively publishes ownerships of companies’ board of directors, and shareholders who own 5% or more of the company shares, in addition to tables and statistical data of interest to investors and researchers, constantly updated, as a reinforcement of transparency and access to information for the public and all relevant authorities.

As part of its continuous efforts towards developing its electronic environment, represented by (SCORPIO), for the benefit of its members, the SDC introduced many updates that have been adopted and used by the SDC and its members to facilitate their tasks and reduce the amount of time and effort required to perform their duties. To this effect, special programs were created for the registration, trading and transfer of subscription rights’ ownership, and a dual listing mechanism and a system for Board of Directors’ ownership and leading shareholders were implemented, in addition to the addition of special programs for security and for distribution of authorities among system users.

The (Pledge System), which was created to serve members of the banking sector, was one of the major services launched during the past year. The system is basically designed to facilitate authentication of pledge/release of pledge procedures by banks as a pledging party for deposited securities, providing procedural speed and accuracy in order to meet the financial needs of customers in terms of granting trade facilities, as well as the possibility of directly following up on pledge actions by the concerned bank.

Perhaps one of the most significant events that have been accomplished during 2006 was the signing of two agreements between the SDC and the Abu Dhabi Securities Market on one hand and the Dubai Financial Market on the other. The two signings coincided with the signing of two Dual Listing agreements between the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) and the same two markets. The latter signing came in fulfillment of a request made by issuers of securities already deposited with one of those parties and in response to the desire of some securities’ owners to deposit them with the other party for the purpose of trading them in the capital market of that country and keep them with certified brokers and custodians in that market. The SDC had prepared the technical environment necessary for activating this agreement in terms of electronic procedures that ensure accuracy and speed of implementation in a manner that is satisfactory to owners of securities listed at both markets and that protects their rights, and raises the standard of services provided in the Jordan capital market.

The SDC, being one of the effective national institutions in the Kingdom’s capital market, aspires to move forward during the current year and continue to provide its services and develop them at all levels in order to serve the public interest. To ensure public access to services, new branches of the SDC will be opened in Amman and Irbid, which will also be adopted as a Business Resumption Site.

Additionally, investors will, during this year, have the opportunity to fill subscription requests for initial public offerings of public shareholding companies in electronic form through the SDC website using the electronic Initial Public Offering system (e-IPO), which the SDC is currently installing and making available to the public.

With that, the SDC concludes its achievements and accomplishments for the year 2006 and is looking forward to a new year of further developments, accomplishments and improvements to the services that are constantly provided to investors, thus reflecting the SDC’s vision and mission and its role in attracting local and foreign investments in line with the directives of the Hashemite leadership for the progress and advancement of this country.