Mubasher: Bahrain Bourse (BHB), a licensed exchange by the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB), will launch its Comprehensive Trading Incentive Scheme that will come into effect on 2 February 2025, according to a press release.
The scheme aims to enhance market participation, drive liquidity, and foster active engagement among brokers, market makers, and liquidity providers through innovative incentive mechanisms.
In addition, it is a key objective of the Financial Services Sector Development Strategy (2022-2026), and is aligned with the Listing Incentives Program recently launched by BHB in 2024.
The objective of the scheme is to provide a range of tailored benefits to support market participants and incentivize market makers, liquidity providers, and other brokers to increase their volume of trades executed pursuant to the business rules of Bahrain Bourse and cleared by Bahrain Clear, which will stimulate further liquidity in the market.
Senior Director of Trading Operations at BHB, Abdulla Mohamed Janahi, said: “The Comprehensive Trading Incentive Scheme is a significant step in our ongoing efforts to enhance market efficiency and encourage active participation across all market segments.”
Newly on-boarded members providing online connectivity will benefit from 20% discount on membership registration fees and 100% discount on membership annual subscription fees for the first two years for one connection.
In addition, for the existing members trading via online connectivity, the scheme offers tiered rebates based on their annual trading value.
Janahi noted: “By introducing these targeted incentives, we aim to create a dynamic and inclusive capital market environment, in line with Bahrain's Financial Services Sector Development Strategy (2022-2026).”
He concluded: “By incentivising greater market engagement, Bahrain Bourse aims to deepen market liquidity, encourage active trading, and bolster the overall capital market ecosystem in the Kingdom of Bahrain.”
Members trading over BHD 75 million annually will qualify for a 10% rebate on commissions, increasing to 20% rebate on commissions for annual trading value above BHD 140 million, and reaching to 30% rebate on commissions for annual trading value exceeding BHD 220 million.
The rebates are capped at BHD 20,000 per year and will be calculated based on total commissions paid to BHB.
Additionally, market makers and liquidity providers will benefit from a unique rebate structure linked to their order presence time in the market.
Those maintaining order presence between 60% and 80% of the time for each security will receive a 50% rebate on commissions, while market makers and liquidity providers with orders presence time of 80% and above will qualify for a 100% rebate on commissions.
Rebates for market makers and liquidity providers will also be calculated annually, based on total commissions paid to BHB.
