Middle East & Africa Archive

UBS has launched Quant HQ as a new service for quantitative trading firms. The new offering uses solutions from the Swiss bank’s Prime Services and Direct Execution units. read more>

Index provider MSCI will retain the frontier market status of United Arab Emirates and Qatar, despite the two countries’ efforts to align their markets with global standards. read more>

As market participants hunt beyond large-cap equities for alpha generation, accessing small caps is becoming easier in some markets but harder in others. read more>

As the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) prepares to open up to direct foreign investment for the first time, Japanese investment bank Nomura has been authorised by the country’s Capital Markets Authority to offer indirect access to Saudi equities via p-notes. read more>

Trading solutions provider QuantHouse is now providing co-location and DMA services within the recently opened CME Group colocation facility west of Chicago in Aurora, Illinois, allowing high-frequency trading firms to benefit from close proximity to the CME Globex matching engine, reduced latency and direct access to the exchange’s liquidity centre. read more>

Financial technology and services provider Orc Group has renewed its agreement with Arqaam Capital, the Dubai-based emerging markets investment bank. read more>

New connectivity is helping Middle Eastern buy-siders expand their exposure across the region and letting local brokers attract global investors. read more>

South Africa’s Johannesburg Stock Exchange is to benefit from a policy change by South Africa’s National Treasury that allows foreign domiciled companies to be included in domestic indices. read more>

Investors looking for alpha in frontier markets should expect to pay the price of wider spreads and longer execution times, according to new research. read more>

Poor capital market infrastructure and limited liquidity in African companies are larger concerns for institutional investors already investing in the continent than fears about bribery and corruption, a survey by Middle Eastern investment asset manager Invest AD along with the Economist Intelligence Unit has found. read more>