EGX scraps application route back to OTC order market

The EGX has rewritten some of the rules governing unlisted securities — traded through its automated order-acceptance system, or over-the-counter (OTC) market — giving its chairman more discretion over when suspended shares can return to the automated order-acceptance system. Under the amendments (pdf) — Decision 633 of 2026, issued on Sunday by EGX Chairman Omar Radwan with the Financial Regulatory Authority’s sign-off — a company that amends its registered issuance data (a capital hike, capital reduction, or share split, for instance) no longer has an explicit route to request reinstatement once trading is halted. Resumption is now the chairman’s call, made “for reasons he deems fit,” not in response to a company request.

How it used to work: Under the old rules (pdf), set in December 2022 under then-chairman Rami El Dokani, unlisted companies that were trading on the EGX had to file the proposed amendment, before-and-after issuance data, and a timetable upfront. Then they could apply for reinstatement once trading was halted. The EGX, in turn, could permanently halt a security and remove it from the order-system database if the company failed to fix what the exchange flagged.

Why it matters: The move reads more like a deregulation of process than a tightening of the rules, and it’s pulling in two directions at once. It scraps the exchange’s power to permanently halt a security and delete it from the order book, so the harshest penalty is off the table. But it also removes the predictability of the process, though not necessarily of the outcome.

The halt no longer has to take effect before the start of the next business day, leaving the exchange no fixed window in which to act. And where the old article described the suspension as temporary, in both its heading and its body, the new text drops the word, though neither version sets a maximum duration.

The trigger itself hasn’t changed: Once a board or general assembly moves to amend registered issuance data, trading through the automated order-acceptance system stops, leaving only ownership transfers open. That means the shares come off the screen but can still change hands through manually recorded transfers.

Pundits tell us: The recent changes significantly cut red tape and ease regulatory burdens on unlisted companies, making trading in the OTC segment more flexible, Sameh Gharib, capital markets expert at Tycoon Securities, tells us. The OTC market was originally intended to provide a temporary venue for trading, rather than to allow companies to remain there indefinitely.

SOUND SMART- Nineteen companies traded on the EGX’s OTC order market yesterday, where bids and offers match on screen much as they do for listed stocks — among them Ezz Steel, Global Telecom Holding, and Alexandria Cement. Alongside it runs the dealsmarket, where ownership transfers are recorded after the fact. The two channels differ in scale as well as mechanics: the order market turned over EGP 3.5 mn across 428 trades against EGP 40.7 mn on 26 trades in the deals market, according to the most recent EGX session.