The Egyptian parliament has given its final approval to the amended Capital Market Law, the Investment and International Cooperation Ministry announced in a statement on Tuesday.

Forty-five articles of the 75-article 1992 Capital Market law were amended.

The amended law introduces new financial instruments including sukuks (bonds that generate returns in a way that complies with Islamic Sharia) and effectively abolishes the sukuks law that received government approval in 2013. 

It also protects the rights of minority stakeholders in cases of company acquisitions. 

Fees for securities registration were also lowered to encourage small and medium enterprises to find new sources of funding. 

The law will also establish a union for securities companies.

Other amendments include the introduction of futures trading, a commodities exchange, and increasing penalties for financial crimes such as receiving insider information that compromises fairness in trading.

Investment minister Sahar Nasr stressed the importance of the law to boosting the competitiveness of Egypt's economy and to support the non-banking financial sector in a bid to achieve financial inclusion.