DFM, DME to explore diversified financial products opportunities

The Dubai Financial Market (DFM) and Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME) will jointly explore financial products opportunities following the signing of an agreement, that will cater to DFM’s large and diversified investors base of over 852,000 investors.

The new initiative stems from both exchanges’ commitment to jointly implement Dubai’s strategy to develop financial markets and exchanges through various synchronised efforts.

The agreement was signed by Hamed Ali, CEO of The Dubai Financial Market and Nasdaq Dubai, and Raid Al-Salami, Managing Director of Dubai Mercantile Exchange, in the presence of Ahmad Sharaf, Chairman of Dubai Mercantile Exchange, during the ‘Derivatives Day in Dubai’, the joint forum organised by the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) in partnership with DME and CME Group, the world’s leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace.

As the first initiative under this agreement, the two exchanges are planning to create a working group, following Dubai’s strategy to further develop financial markets.

The collaboration with Dubai Mercantile Exchange will enable The Dubai Financial Market to develop investments opportunities related to the GCC crude oil industry and offer retail investors the opportunity to be directly involved in the biggest and most relevant asset class in the region.  Dubai Financial Market plans to launch a new retail product derived from the Oman Crude Oil Futures, DME’s flagship contract that provides investors with unique opportunity to access this significant asset class.Since its launch in 2007, DME has traded around 18 billion barrels of Oman crude oil and it is considered home for the most transparent sour crude benchmark in the Middle East and Asia.

The DME Oman marker price is used by National Oil Companies of Oman, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain to price more than 5.5 million barrels per day of Middle East crude oil.

Commenting on this development, Hamed Ali said, “As part of DFM’s efforts to diversify asset classes and product offering, we are delighted to sign this agreement with DME to introduce new investment opportunities to our investors, in particular retail investors. The agreement underlines the two exchanges’ commitment to identify synergies and potential opportunities, which ultimately strengthens Dubai’s position as a capital markets hub, in line with the leadership’s vision and the strategic plan to develop financial markets in Dubai.”

Raid Al-Salami said, “It is our pleasure to be here today signing this collaboration agreement. We believe this partnership between DFM and DME highlights the regional strengths and innovative opportunities to be explored within Dubai. We are committed to providing the market with new investments solutions and support the growth of Dubai as a leading financial hub globally.”

Dubai Financial Market (DFM) was established as a public institution with its own independent corporate body. DFM operates as a secondary market for the trading of securities issued by public shareholding companies, bonds issued by the Federal Government or any of the local Governments and public institutions in the country.

WAM