Iran's CSDI Eases Access to Trading Codes

EghtesadOnline: Iran’s stock exchange regulator is easing conditions for issuing trading codes for new investors, cut red tape, encourage more people to the bourse and put the market on a stronger footing.

News ID: ۷۴۹۹۹۵

07 May 2020

Issuing codes without the physical presence of applicants is one such measure. According to a notice on Central Securities Depository of Iran website, applicants will soon be able to apply for trading codes via electronic platforms.

The clearing house announced that the grounds are being prepared and the initiative will be made available in the coming week.

This comes after people in growing numbers and wanting to move into the bourse are seen every day waiting in long lines near brokerage firms to get the code.

According to the CSDI, prospective investors will be no longer required to personally approach the brokerage firms to certify their identity. Instead, they can visit sejam.ir to get identity check done electronically.

Sweetening the conditions for investors’ presence in the bourse is in tandem with the declared government support the capital market.

Observers say the government has pinned much hope on stock market potential to secure funding for its increasingly tight budget.

The government has launched a set of divesture schemes that are to be realized via the stock market, which obviously is subject to the active presence of investors.

The government has started offering its stake in 18 companies via exchange-traded funds and asked the public to buy the funds’ units at discounts. Investors do not need trading codes to subscribe for shares but must have one when they want to trade them in the market two months after subscription.

President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday outlined three main government objectives behind for supporting the stock market by advancing divestiture schemes.

Rouhani pointed to efforts to reduce government role in the economy and give more space to private the sector. Controlling rampant liquidity and directing it to the stock market is the second goal.

Listing companies in the stock market will help improve their financial transparency, Rouhani said, assuring the public that “the government will take big steps” to expand the market.

According to data from the Central Securities Depository of Iran, more than 822,000 trading codes were issued in the last fiscal year that ended on March 19, putting the total number of stock market investors at more than 11.65 million.

This indicates an average 68,500 codes a month, with the number of the ascending order as the year came to an end.

Accordingly, the number of issued codes rose from 55,000 per month in the beginning of the last fiscal year to over 172,000 in the last month of the previous calendar year.