The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have become a key market for retail brokers, with many local ones growing and foreign ones entering. CFI Financial is a broker that was born and developed in the MENA region. Now, it has an extensive international presence.
In an interview with Finance Magnates, Hisham Mansour, the Co-Founder and Managing Director of CFI, highlighted that: "The Arabic-speaking market is substantial and holds tremendous opportunities."
"With a population exceeding 500 million people across the Middle East and North Africa, the demand for market access and online trading has risen substantially and is expected to continue in this direction."
Additionally, he pointed out that the growth in the region "in terms of its size and maturity" was fueled by "a large and young population, abundant resources, technological advancements, and a growing tourism industry, making it a market with huge future growth potential."
Brokers Need to Strategize
Geographically, MENA is massive and diverse. It has rich countries, in terms of per capita income, like the United Arab Emirates, and growing economies like Egypt. Presently, established brokers are carefully expanding their reach in the region to stay ahead of the competition.
Recently, in its extension efforts, CFI entered Egypt by acquiring a local Egyptian brokerage firm named El Mahrousa. Currently, the Dubai-headquartered broker has two offices in the country, one in Cairo and another in Alexandria.
"Entering the Egyptian market through an acquisition was a strategic decision for CFI to solidify our leading position in MENA," Mansour said. "The decision was driven by several key factors. Egypt represents a highly promising market with a large population of over 100 million people and a vibrant economy that ranked 3rd in the Arab world in terms of GDP. Egypt is also home to one of the oldest and most important financial markets in the region with growing interest among its population."
A Localized Market
Despite its promises, foreign brokers need to adapt locally in the MENA region. As Mansour said: "There are many distinct characteristics that set the MENA region apart from other established and developing markets."
"One notable aspect is the cultural diversity and unique trading preferences within the MENA region," he added. "Traders in this region often prefer localized services, including Arabic language support, culturally relevant educational materials, dedicated customer support, and a local presence in the region. This emphasis on personalized and tailored services caters to the specific needs and preferences of our MENA-based traders."
Marketing Channels
Brokers and other financial services companies reach their target customers through several marketing channels – one of the more popular ones is sports marketing. CFI, itself has inked many sports deals over the year. It signed a popular football coach, Pep Guardiola as a brand ambassador and has entered into other partnerships in Formula E, Tennis, Basketball, and Football.
"They have allowed us to align our brand with highly respected sports figures and teams, enhancing our visibility, credibility, and mind share in the market," Mansour added. "Additionally, these partnerships have enabled us to reach a wider audience beyond the traditional trading community. By associating with well-known sports figures and teams, we have gained access to their fan base, allowing us to connect with a broader demographic and attract new clients to start trading with CFI."
One strategy CFI has followed around sports marketing is to go local with its deals. It sponsors multiple sports events and teams in the MENA region to propagate its brand locally.
"Local partnerships like JFA and Mubadala allow us to establish strong connections within the local communities where we operate. By associating with local sports organizations and events, we demonstrate our dedication to supporting local talent and promoting sports at a grassroots level. This is just something that cannot be achieved with larger and more global deals, like sponsoring a major European or English football club, for example," said CFI's MD.
AI Penetrates the Trading Industry
Artificial Intelligence, or AI, has become a trend in the trading industry. Companies are adopting AI-driven technologies and services in many areas. Client onboarding, customer service, and marketing are only a few areas where modern technology is making an impact.
"The emergence of AI is certainly reshaping the marketing space for brokers, offering new possibilities to enhance customer experiences and expand our marketing efforts," the MD of CFI added. "For us as a company, AI helps us create conceptual marketing ideas, enhances lead generation, automates repetitive tasks, and assists in optimizing our marketing campaigns. This tailors our marketing efforts and provides more targeted and relevant content to those looking for it."
"While many think that AI is something that hinders creativity, especially in marketing, we are finding ways to incorporate AI into our campaigns and ads that combine our team's human creativity and expertise around the themes of AI and automation."
"Looking toward the future, the AI trend looks like it is only just getting started, and there are so many directions AI can lead the online trading industry. For brokers, AI can largely improve and strengthen live chatbots, analyze vast amounts of data faster, and bring more people to the markets with easing access. We are excited to see exactly where the AI trend takes the industry in the future, and we are continuously looking at how CFI can leverage AI to empower clients in their trading journey."
The Future
Mentioning the future of CFI, Mansour said the broker is "focusing on continuously improving and optimizing our clients' trading experience on our desktop platforms and also the CFI Trading App. This includes new, advanced tools in the areas of news, analysis and trading automation."
"Through the years, we have seen the expansion of technology and how it has improved the online trading industry. CFI has always been at the forefront of delivering the best technologies and conditions for traders and investors, and will continue to do so as new trends emerge in the future."
"Over the long term, we are ramping up our expansion and growing our local presence into new countries and regions, including LATAM, Africa and Asia. We want to continue this growth and continue providing the highest quality and the best trading services for our clients."
