Bahrain Clear (BHB) announced that it has successfully distributed the cash dividend distribution for the year ended December 31, 2020, with BD 121.82 million of dividends for 23 listed securities to the entitled investors with updated IBAN details at Bahrain Clear representing 82% of overall dividends declaration.
Bahrain Clear managed the distribution process on behalf of 23 listed securities that declared dividends for the last year on Bahrain Bourse and all investors received their dividends via IBAN bank transfers. In accordance with Ministerial Cabinet Resolution No. 2020/48-2, Bahrain Bourse established the ‘Amanat’ Investor Protection Funds Program to ensure investor protection and management and administration of cash dividend distribution for all listed companies. Since the inception of ‘Amanat’, the cash dividend distribution increased from an average of 50% for the last year compared to 82% for the financial year ended December 31, 2020, an increase of 32%.
“Bahrain Clear strives to continuously provide value-added services to investors including a fully-fledged digitization plans to automate processes. This comes as part of Bahrain Clear’s strategy to enhance its services and better serve investors. The IBAN cash dividends transfer is part of our portfolio of digital services which we have previously rolled out including eIPO and electronic AGM services,” said Shaikh Khalifa bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Bahrain Clear.
“As a licensed exchange, it is our legal and fiduciary responsibility towards our investors to ensure prompt and timely distribution of cash dividends. It is part of our strategy, and forms an integral part of our DNA. Hence, Bahrain Clear has been actively reaching out to investors via various platforms to ensure updating their KYC information and IBAN details,” he added.
It is worth mentioning that Bahrain Clear is a fully owned subsidiary of Bahrain Bourse with a disclosed capital of BD 5 million, and a paid-up capital of BD 1 million. Bahrain Clear is licensed as a clearing house by the Central Bank of Bahrain, offering pre and post-trade services to investors as well as a range of services including transactions depository, clearing, settlement, central registry and registration.
