Dubai Financial Market appoints new CEO, reports 21% rise in H1 profit

Dubai Financial Market (DFM) Company has appointed Hassan Al Serkal as its new CEO with immediate effect, it announced on Monday.

Al Serkal was previously serving as the COO and head of the Operations division.

One of the founding team members of the DFM since its inception in 2000, Al Serkal will lead DFM’s strategic development efforts during the coming period.

In his previous role, he led the Operations division to undertake strategic initiatives and create technology and regulatory infrastructure for the market while also diversifying its product offering and services.

Essa Kazim, chairman of the DFM, said: “This step concludes the wide-ranging reorganisation process of the market’s structure over the past two years, which also included the establishment of independent companies for clearing and depository in line with best practices of exchange operators and post-trade service providers.”

DFM also announced that net profit for the first half of this year rose 21 per cent to reach Dhs78.9m, up from Dhs65.1m during H1 2019. Revenues during the period stood at Dhs181.1m, up 10.8 per cent year-on-year.

During the first six months of 2020, the DFM’s trading value also exceeded Dhs31bn, a 25 per cent increase compared to H1 last year.

The index also reported strong results for the second quarter, with Q2 net profit up 20 per cent year-on-year to reach Dhs44.2m.

“The second quarter performance clearly indicates the DFM’s resiliency in containing international markets’ volatility due to the repercussions of unprecedented circumstances triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic with the general index advancing 16 per cent, restoring a considerable percentage of its previous decline,” said Essa Kazim.

The DFM also attracted 1,718 new investors during the first half, increasing its investor base to 845,770 investors.

Foreign investors’ market share accounted for 49 per cent of trading activity during the first half and for 18.2 per cent of the market capitalisation at the end of June 2020.

“The UAE’s pro-active approach dealing with the pandemic’s repercussions has been pivotal in achieving these encouraging performance indicators with various economic sectors benefiting from the numerous stimulus packages rapidly launched by the UAE,” Kazim added.

DFM also launched Dubai Clear and Dubai CSD in April 2020 as independent companies for post-trade services. Dubai Clear is the region’s first independent company central counterparty for equity clearing and Dubai CSD is the UAE’s first independent central securities depository company.