The Lebanese Capital Markets Authority

Who are the Capital Markets Authority?

The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) is an independent, fully autonomous body that was set up to regulate capital market activity in Lebanon. It supervises, licenses and monitors the activities of corporate entities and individuals engaged in the capital markets sector. It was established under the Capital Markets Law No.161, which was passed and ratified in August 2011. When the CMA was first established, it was hoped that by building confidence in the Lebanese capital markets and increasing the sector’s integrity and overall functioning, this would attract development and investment in the region.

Regulatory areas and powers

The CMA was set up primarily to promote and develop capital market activity in Lebanon, as well as to protect investors from fraudulent activities. It achieves this by issuing financial regulations in line with international best practices, and by ensuring the proper control and audit of all financial institutions operating in Lebanon. This gives the CMA a broad set of powers to both develop and issue regulations, conduct investigations, audit relevant financial institutions, and issue fines and penalties where necessary.

In recent years, the CMA has also been putting additional resources into the ‘Investor Education’ section of its website. This helps individual consumers to better understand the role of the CMA and the function it serves in relation to individual consumers, as well as providing tips on how to avoid financial fraud. This falls under the consumer protection function of the CMA law that establishes it.

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How to check if a broker is regulated by the Capital Markets Authority

If you want to check whether a particular broker or financial services provider is licensed or regulated by the CMA, you can start by checking if its licence number is listed on the website of the broker in question. If this information is listed, you can verify whether it is real by navigating to the Lebanon Capital Markets Authority website and conducting a search for that licence number. If you want to do a manual search from scratch, you can also use the search function on the CMA website to check whether it has been issued a licence by the CMA. To do this, simply head to the ‘Approved Institutions’ section of the CMA website, where you can search its database. You can search by name or licence number. Once you have found the particular financial institution you are looking for, you will then be able to check the status of its licence, what restrictions are placed on it, and what activities it is permitted to engage in. This database contains lists of financial intermediation institutions, banks and other financial institutions regulated by the CMA.

Making a complaint

To make a complaint with the CMA, navigate to the ‘Approved Institutions’ section of the website. From here, you will be able to access the complaint form. Click ‘File a Complaint’ to initiate the process. You will then be presented with links to download the complaint form, with both English and Arabic versions available. The complaint form will ask for details both about yourself and about the nature of the complaint, which must be completed in full. This form can then be emailed to the CMA or sent by post. Once processed, you will be kept updated on the status of your complaint as it progresses through the complaints procedure. You should note, however, that this facility cannot be used to seek advice on the application of CMA law or any other forms of legal advice.