Exness MOHAMAD IBRAHIM Regional Director (MENA) at Exness
The huge explosion that occurred in the port of Beirut in August 2020, along with the Covid-19 crisis, corruption and poverty, are now suffocating the country’s financial system. As a result, brokers who had their regional offices in the country for years, decided to withdraw and cease their operations. The transformation that is required is not only about online trading; the entire Lebanese financial services system needs to adapt. We need to see serious changes take place in the leadership and running of the country for significant improvements to take place and encourage foreign investments back into Lebanon. Q How does the scene in Dubai differ? Dubai has impressed the rest of the world when it comes to how they are handling the Covid-19 crisis. After enforcing very strict lockdown measures where citizens had to apply for a permit to leave their homes, the Emirate quickly had an open-door policy (as long as a negative PCR test was presented on arrival).
Mohamad Ibrahim Regional Director (MENA) at Exness
Q What was the Lebanese FX scene like when you first got into FX over 10 years ago? Lebanon has a rich and diverse history and was once even referred to as the “Switzerland of the Middle East”. The Lebanese banking system was one of the most renowned in the region, where the financial stability supported the flow of massive amounts to Lebanese banks. FX brokers enjoyed a golden age as people had savings and were eager to make more money. This made Beirut serve as a regional hub for FX brokers. Unfortunately, the mismanagement of the banking sector, the development of widespread economic struggle as well as a deep debt crisis, led to commercial banks having to suspend international transfers and applying partial capital control; this resulted in Lebanese traders and investors being disconnected from global markets.
These changes happened just a few months after the pandemic hit us. Now a year on we’re even seeing events such as the iFXExpo move from Cyprus to Dubai which demonstrates the country’s willingness to keep on transforming its economy. Dubai was chosen due to its location and openness to attract international businesses. Exness were the Official Global Partners of the event as we wanted to show our support for the expo in the region. With this kind of support from the industry and the UAE as a country, the possibilities to grow a successful business in the region, especially an online trading brokerage, are limitless. Q Years ago the Middle East market was the place to be for the big ticket clients. Is this still the case? Absolutely. I believe it is more the case now than ever before. The Middle East has been attracting attention with its high-profile events that are drawing in international investors to the region. The first-ever Formula 1 in Saudi Arabia, the World Cup in Qatar and the World Expo in the UAE are drawing a whole new focus to the region. Abu Dhabi has also been hosting its annual Formula 1 event here since November 2009 which has seen brokerages invite their VIP clients to the corporate hospitality suites for years. The leadership in the UAE have a long-term vision for the country. Dubai also presents itself as a leader in digitalization as they started accepting cryptocurren-
