Saudi stock market regulator fines seven companies for disclosure violations

Saudi Arabia’s stock market regulator has levied heavy fines on seven companies for a range of disclosure failings.

They include late earnings disclosure, misleading information on vital business changes, failing to disclose the appointment of a board executive and, in one instance, an absence of compliance control.

The Capital Market Authority (CMA) said it had imposed two penalties totalling 200,000 riyals (Dh195,862) on Etihad Etisalat for failing to inform the regulator and the public “in a timely manner” about the cancellation of an acquisition agreement and its subsequent financial impact on the company.

The CMA also levied fines of 170,000 riyals on Arab National Bank, saying that the lender did not reveal a decision to increase its capital on time.

In addition, the CMA said the lender took almost six months to reveal that it had appointed Riyadh Burhan Taher Kamal to its board of directors, replacing Mohammed Abdulhameed Shumaan.

Dallah Healthcare Holding Company, the telecoms operator Zain, Anaam International Holding and Zamil Industrial Investment were fined a combined total of 50,000 riyals for failing to disclose their preliminary first quarter earnings statements on time, the CMA said.

The regulator also said it handed a 90,000 riyal fine to Saudi Transport and Investment Company after it “traded Bank Albilad’s shares through its investment portfolio and without an investment fund management contract with an authorised person approved by CMA”.

The CMA is the only regulator in the region to publicly reveal fines levied on companies, investors, brokers and banks for failing to comply with its rules.

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