For the first time, the Jordanian market has more than one active custodian, giving investors a greater chance of selecting one more appropriate to their needs, says Mohammad Aburoub, head of securities services at the Bank of Jordan, which began offering custody services for foreign institutional investors (FIIs) in 2004.

In 2014 the Jordan Securities Commission announced the release of Islamic instruments under eight contract types, allowing investors to pick a suitable form of investment. These tax-exempt shariah-compliant instruments are to be traded on the secondary Islamic Instruments Market.

The Central Bank of Jordan issued a policy mandating the use of payment purpose codes for all inward and outward remittances. All banks in Jordan are now required to accept and process payment instructions with the codes, effective February 2 2015. Clients are required to implement the codes in Tag F70 for all payments instructions to or from their accounts. In case the payment purpose codes are not used, the processing of both inward and outward payments is likely to be rejected.