Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME), which is jointly owned by Oman Investment Authority (OIA), has announced that it will partner with the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) in the joint exploration of financial products opportunities. This follows 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 synchronized efforts.
The agreement was signed by Hamed Ali, CEO of DFM and Nasdaq Dubai, and Raid al Salami, Managing Director of DME, in the presence of Ahmad Sharaf, Chairman of DME, 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 DME will enable DFM 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. DFM 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.” (WAM)
