Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley have listed a total of 14 structured products on the Dubai International Financial Exchange following the launch of the exchange’s TraX plat
Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley have listed a total of 14 structured products on the Dubai International Financial Exchange following the launch of the exchange’s TraX platform.
DIFX TraX is the first structured products platform to be created by an exchange in the Gulf Co-operation Council region. The 14 TraX products listed on August 28 include securities that give exposure to shares listed on the Dubai Financial Market and the Abu Dhabi Securities Market, as well as securities linked to commodities such as oil and sugar.
Says DIFX executive officer Hamed Ali: ‘DIFX TraX fills a glaring gap in the capital markets, offering for the first time structured products that are based on regional assets and are listed in the region.
‘The DIFX aims to build TraX into a major platform, serving its region with a wide variety of structured products in the same way that other international financial exchanges serve their regions.’
Executives of Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley took part in a conference held at the Dubai International Financial Centre to launch the DIFX TraX platform, along with three regional brokers, EFG-Hermes, Mashreq and Mubasher.
‘It is easy for investors to trade structured products on the DIFX, including through online trading,’ says Mohammad Jamal, sales and marketing manager of Direct Broker for Financial Services, which is part of Mubasher. ‘It can be done just like trading shares. I believe structured products have a significant role to play in the portfolio of many regional investors.’
Adds Seif Fikry, head of brokerage for the United Arab Emirates at EFG-Hermes: ‘It is exciting to see the DIFX taking bold steps with the various products being listed today, many of which we anticipate appealing to individual investors. As a broker on the exchange, we look forward to being part of Dubai’s establishment as a key structured products market.’
The DIFX says it intends to build DIFX TraX into a platform serving investors outside the region as well as inside it.
