What impact will new technology, such as AI, have on the retail investment sector?
I think that the impact of AI and other new technologies will largely be a positive one. With the way technologies like AI are progressing in the financial sector, it could encourage a lot more retail traders to enter the market in the future whereby these technologies can assist the traders in making decisions.
Technologies like algorithmic trading and copy trading are already hugely popular amongst the retail investment sector, and AI technology will only improve the process of analysing huge volumes of data on behalf of traders, helping them to find correlations in pricing, determine the best times to trade, and learn with better accuracy and efficiency how asset prices move with machine learning.
Is there a danger that retail investors are over-trading?
The risk of over-trading could always be present if retail investors don’t know what they are getting into, or if they don’t understand the risks of trading financial instruments. This is especially true considering the rise of brokers providing easy access to the market, some regulated and some not.
Traders can become successful in the markets with a proper strategy and good knowledge, but it can also work against traders if they are inexperienced. It’s important for retail investors to choose a well-regulated broker, to understand the risks, educate themselves about trading and to only invest the capital they can afford to lose when choosing risky investments.
Is crypto here to stay as a store of value and as an investment?
Crypto has gained huge popularity amongst retail investors in recent years, some seeing it as a long-term investment while others speculating on the trading opportunities it offers. It is almost certain that crypto is likely to remain at least in the short term as a popular choice due to its uniqueness and the large community behind it. However, it is hard to define cryptocurrencies as a store of value or an investment not the least because of their volatility and in many cases the difficulty to assess on what basis the price is based upon.
Therefore, since crypto is highly volatile and still a relatively new asset class (if it is to be considered an asset class at all), we will need some more time to see how prices adapt in the future, whether governments and regulators will continue to step in on the industry to adopt it and most importantly to see how crypto can act as a store of value.
How has the Middle East developed as a market compared to other global sectors?
It is amazing to see how the Middle East has developed as a market with rapid economic growth and diversification efforts, especially in recent years and particularly looking at countries like the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
While the market is still growing in terms of its size and maturity, the Middle East is home to a large and young population, abundant resources, technological advancements and a growing tourism industry, making it a market with huge future growth potential. Having our headquarters in Dubai and having the largest presence in MENA among competitors, we just can’t be more excited about being here as part of this rapidly growing region.
Talk to us about the growth of CFI, why have you selected Dubai as your HQ?
As a company, we have grown significantly since our establishment in 1998.Today we operate globally with 9+ offices worldwide across major financial hubs. We have also grown our product offerings to thousands of tradable instruments across 23 global markets and we recently hit 200 employees at CFI.
Choosing Dubai as our HQ was motivated by several reasons. This is the city of the future and we are a futuristic company by nature. It is well located strategically and well known as a hub for international trade and finance, making it an ideal location to serve our client base in the Middle East. Dubai particularly also offers a highly regulated, stable and attractive business environment with a fast-growing financial market and a large pool of top talent within the sector. We feel our choice to have our headquarters is natural given all of the above.

How have you differentiated CFI from other retail investment services?
CFI is differentiated in a number of ways. In brief, we believe our clients choose us most importantly because of our positive reputation we have built over the years and also because we offer some of the best and more impeccable trading services all round. We are completely client focused.
We give our clients a 1-1, personalised service where we understand and listen to their investing needs and requirements, helping our clients to empower themselves through investing in the global markets.
Our range of products and services are also constantly expanding which means access to more opportunities. We now offer thousands of products across 23 global markets to trade, with some of the most competitive conditions in the industry. We are also developing and improving technologically, facilitating quick access to the financial markets and ease of use when it comes to our trading platforms.
We focus heavily on education and provide amazing resources for our clients in terms of free webinars, analysis and other informative resources. Finally, we do all of the above as a properly regulated company that truly believes its reputation and people are its two greatest assets.

CFI is also known for taking a glocal approach to the markets it operates in. What exactly does that mean for CFI, and why did you choose this particular strategy?
Our ‘glocal’ approach means that while CFI operates on a global scale, more importantly, we also consider and adapt to local market conditions and cultural differences and believe in the need of being close and accessible to our clients not only digitally but also physically. We are essentially aiming to strike a balance between the benefits of a global presence and the importance of being close and responsive to local needs, tailoring our products and services to the local market to build a stronger presence in each individual market.
For example, we have corporate offices set up in every country we operate in, allowing our clients to visit us in person and to see the company behind the trading platform. Despite our growing global scale, we always pay particular attention to each market, offering our clients full transparency that translates into a long lasting and trusting business relationship.