Standard Chartered Bank has launched its new trading room at the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC).

DIFC governor Dr Omar bin Sulaiman opened the new facility in the presence of Richard Meddings, board of directors and group finance director;  Shayne Nelson, regional CEO for Mena; Mahendra Gursahani, senior executive officer, Standard Chartered DIFC; and Lee Boon Huat, managing director, Global Markets Middle East and North Africa.

The new trading floor strengthens Standard Chartered’s regional headquarters at DIFC by creating the largest such facility in the Middle East with the biggest number of trading positions, said a bank official.

The trading floor hosts over 200 trading seats and will support the continued build out of the Bank’s global financial markets business.

'As one of the bank’s global hubs, the DIFC trading floor is geared to be a centre of excellence for the Mena region,' Shayne Nelson, regional CEO Standard Chartered said.

It will include specialist global roles focusing on key product areas such as risk management advisory, structuring, interest rates derivatives, foreign exchange, ecommerce, credit trading and capital markets capabilities with a wide spectrum of products covering fixed income, syndications, asset backed securities, credit derivatives and convertible bonds.

At the launch, Dr Sulaiman said Standard Chartered’s new trading room had set fresh benchmarks in the region for state-of-the-art facilities that help customers conduct trading activities.

'Facilities such as this will help to generate even more growth in the region’s financial market,' he opined. 

Standard Chartered is investing in expanding its financial markets capabilities, both in the UAE and within the group. The bank has recently established a team of client relationship specialists based in Dubai and has also expanded its Global Corporates, Corporate Finance and Commodity Research teams.

Last week, the bank announced a new global head of fixed income trading, global head of structured products trading and a global head of modelling and analytics group, all based in Singapore.

Standard Chartered is the only bank within the Dubai International Financial Centre to have its own dedicated office building.

The bank co-ordinates many of its regional activities from the UAE and has expanded its role as a global centre for physical commodities, energy and oil. In addition, it is also the centre for Standard Chartered’s global market risk management and operates as the back-up to Standard Chartered’s UK businesses.

According to Nelson, Stanchart's continued investment in the DIFC is testament to its commitment to the entire region.

'The bank’s strategy is to leverage this location at the cross-roads of our business footprint for the benefit of our clients and the entire banking sector across the Mena. To that end, the Africa regional team is now based in the DIFC and the Africa FX team is moving into the dealing room in the near future.”

Lee Boon Huat, managing director, Global Markets Mena, added, “The expanded trading floor capabilities give us the ability to meet our client’s strategic requirements while providing a borderless access to a wide suite of creative solutions.'
 
'Scaling our presence in the region will strengthen the Wholesale Banking ability to deliver key capabilities including: Capital Markets, Transactional Banking, Trade Finance, Corporate Finance, Rates and FX Transactions, and Islamic Banking,' he added.-TradeArabia News Service