Boursa Kuwait is set to adopt FTSE Russell Industry Classification Benchmark for all equity stocks listed on its markets, starting from this month.

The FTSE Russell ICB is a comprehensive, globally recognized standard, categorizing companies and securities across four levels of classification. Each company is allocated to the subsector that most closely represents the nature of its business, determined by its primary source of revenue and other publicly available information, said a statement from the bourse.

The Boursa Kuwait move comes as part of its ongoing commitment to attract and facilitate international investments to the country, it added.

Boursa Kuwait CEO Khaled Abdulrazzaq AlKhaled, said: "Adopting the FTSE Russell Industry Classification Benchmark ensures that our bourse will adhere to international standards and increase transparency as well as adopt universal benchmarks, allowing the exchange to flourish and expand."

"Our goal of achieving worldwide status and becoming a regional leader just became a little closer with this step, an important milestone on our journey and goal of developing a liquid, reliable and sound capital market providing issuers with efficient access to capital, and investors with diverse return opportunities, evolving into a leading regional exchange," he added.

Since its establishment in 2014, Boursa Kuwait has been committed to raising the international standards of the Kuwaiti market, facilitating the development of a sound, internationally recognized, leading regional exchange.

This September, Kuwait will be promoted to Secondary Emerging market status, after undergoing FTSE Russell’s Annual Classification Review of last year.

Gary Rynhoud, the head of the Middle East and Africa (MEA) at FTSE Russell, said: "Boursa Kuwait’s adoption of ICB’s globally-recognised classification standard will support the local bourse in offering increased transparency, structure, and standards to meet the needs of the global investment industry and support increased international awareness and investment into Kuwait."

"The ICB is a rigorous and transparent rules-based methodology and we are delighted that Boursa Kuwait has chosen ICB to assist it in bringing their services in line with the practices of the global investment community," he added.-TradeArabia News Service