TIRANA, July 14 /ATA/ The Committee on European Affairs and Foreign Affairs on Tuesday approved the draft law on transparency requirements for issuers of financial securities.
Presenting the bill to the committee, Patris Poshnjari, Director of Capital Market Supervision at the Financial Supervisory Authority (AFSA), said the draft law aims to align Albania’s legislation with European Union standards.
Poshnjari said the draft law strengthens transparency and disclosure requirements for issuers of financial securities, with the aim of enhancing market confidence and improving investor protection in the capital market.
According to Poshnjari, the draft law is intended not only to meet Albania’s obligations under the EU integration process, but also to support the creation and development of the domestic capital market as an alternative source of financing for businesses and an investment opportunity for investors.
She added that raising transparency standards is essential to achieving this objective, enabling investors to make well-informed decisions.
“This is the main objective of the draft law: to increase transparency, strengthen investor confidence and broaden the range of financial instruments, which is currently focused mainly on government securities and some bonds issued through private offerings,” Poshnjari said.
Poshnjari also stressed that the draft law aims to establish a comprehensive and harmonised legal framework for the publication, filing, storage and access of regulated information by issuers whose securities have been admitted for trading on regulated markets.
According to her, this legal framework is essential for developing a functional and credible capital market, ensuring that investors have access to complete, accurate, comparable and timely information.
“Regulated information must be filed and stored in a single centralised location known as the Officially Appointed Mechanism. This mechanism is one of the key instruments used in the European Union for collecting and storing information from issuers. It enables investors to access comparable and reliable information, allowing them to make informed decisions on buying, selling or holding financial instruments in their portfolios,” Poshnjari said, adding that “this national mechanism will be connected to the European one.”
Under the new draft law on the transparency of securities, issuers of these securities, as well as companies listed on regulated markets, will be required to publicly disclose any significant information. The draft law sets out the requirements that issuers must meet after the issuance of securities.
/m.m/r.e/sm/
