Equiti Opens Physical Storefront to Attract UAE Traders
Equiti has opened a physical storefront in Sharjah, UAE, offering face-to-face guidance to its potential and existing customers in the country. Announced today (Monday), it is the first such brick-and-mortar store for the contracts for difference (CFD) broker.
Building a “Personal Connection” with Traders
The broker says that visitors can just walk in and meet with “an experienced team” to get technology and market insights.
“Access to financial services is not only about technology; it is also about having knowledgeable people available to offer guidance and answer questions,” said Mohamed Hachichou, General Director of Equiti’s Sharjah Branch. “The Sharjah store allows us to provide that personal connection alongside our digital capabilities.”
“By making our expertise easier to reach, we can create a more accessible and supportive experience for every client.”
Cracking the “High-Touch” UAE Market
Although Equiti might be the only broker in the CFD space with a physical storefront in the UAE, the concept is not new. Multiple Southeast Asia-centric brokers, including moomoo and Futu, operate physical stores in multiple such locations across Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia.
The concept of physical storefronts in the digitised brokerage industry, however, originated in legacy physical, walk-in investor branches that many brokers operated for decades.
The UAE, especially Dubai, has attracted many CFD brokers in recent years due to its clear licensing framework. Equiti’s move also makes sense with the growing number of UAE-based traders. Although not many brokers share their dissected geographical figures, Capital.com earlier revealed that the Middle East accounted for almost 60 per cent of total platform volume, with the UAE being its top market there.
IG Group’s MENA CEO, Sharaz Hussain, said earlier that the country has a “high-touch” market, and traders even visit its local office to interact with staff or open an account.
Now, it remains to be seen whether other CFD brokers in the UAE will also follow Equiti in opening physical storefronts.
This article was written by Arnab Shome at www.financemagnates.com.
