The Bahrain Financial Exchange (BFX), the first multi-asset exchange in the Mena region, has signed up top regional investment bank Taib as its new trading member.

The membership will enable Taib Bank to trade cash instruments, derivatives, structured products and Shariah compliant financial instruments in a secure environment regulated by the Central Bank of Bahrain on behalf of its institutional and high net-worth individual client base.

Sohail Sultan, Taib Bank CEO said, 'Our decision to join the BFX as a trading member came as a result of thorough due diligence of the exhange's product offerings for both the conventional and the Islamic markets as we focus on providing our client base with the best investment solutions for their varied needs.'

'We believe that the BFX with its multi-asset product portfolio will undoubtedly compliment our restructured treasury and equity broking capabilities,' noted Sultan.

'The enhanced liquidity and product mix provided through the BFX will allow us, as a regional investment bank, to more effectively manage our clients risk and investment needs,' he said.

'The establishment of the BFX and our expected participation as an active member is a clear validation of the continued importance of Bahrain as a pre-eminent financial centre for the wider region,' he added.

Khalid Hamad, executive director of Banking Supervision at the CBB, said this tieup clearly shows the opportunities which exist for the new asset-classes that the BFX offers for trading and investment.

'We are very pleased that there is strong demand for BFX’s offerings and we wish both Taib Bank and the BFX a rewarding partnership,” he added.

Commenting on the partnership, Arshad Khan, managing director and chief executive officer of the BFX and the BFX Clearing and Depository Corporation (BCDC), said: “We would like to welcome TAIB as a valued trading member.

'The partnership affirms the positive reception of our innovative product portfolio within the Bahrain banking community and we look forward to supporting TAIB Bank in the years ahead as it moves from strength to strength under Sultan following its recent restructuring.

BFX memberships are offered in four categories, allowing different levels of access to the market depending on the level of participation required by the financial institution and its clients.

These are trading and clearing member, trading member, clearing member and authorised remote member.-TradeArabia News Service