XTB ASHRAF DRID Senior Executive Officer at XTB
Q Why MENA is one of the main regions for XTB? As you know, the MENA region is very important with 19 countries that make up 578 million of the world’s population. UAE has recently joined the top financial hub countries in the world and was ranked the most attractive financial center in the MENA region. The Middle East seems to have a very positive future with regards to fintech in addition to so many promising plans yet to come true and this is mainly why I chose to have the office in the MENA region. Q Recently there have been a fair few changes that have been implemented in the UAE in regards to doing business. For example, implementing tax and changing the workweek, why do you think these changes are taking place? The UAE, and Dubai specifically, welcomes everyone. I think this is exactly why the working days were changed to Monday-Friday. This is to work in conjunction with the rest of the world and when financial markets are open. Similarly, because the UAE is open to the whole world, the implementation of the new corporate tax came to increase the government’s revenue which will mean increased spending on the country, and thus the UAE’s market stays refreshed, as there’s a continuous flow of money taking place. Q We’re already a quarter of the way into the year and it seems we’ve left one crisis behind just to move into another. How do you see the unrest in Europe affecting running a business in the Middle East? Of course, we all live on one planet, and everything is so interrelated. Everything going on in the West does affect markets and the Middle East as a whole. I believe that this is mainly related to the UAE being an importer of many agricultures like wheat, corn, coffee, and more. Thus, any effect in the supply of their products will have a compound effect on the whole world. Q We understand that XTB is working on unique trading platform technologies. Can you let us know a little more about what you’re working on? The company has been using Xstation for so many years now. Xstation has a very simple intuitive design and is very easy to use. It has transparent charts that make it easy to manage your account.
GAME CHANGERS Issue #39
Q What else can we expect to hear from XTB in the coming months? I will leave it for XTB to show you the answer to this with time. But all I can say is there will be so many exciting new things so keep an eye on our website and socials always.
