Meet the Spotware team at iFX Expo Dubai from 10 – 12 Feb
A semi-common occurrence is that if you speak with any broker trying to enter the UAE market, they’ll note that CFI is one of the main brokers they have to try and unseat – and that it’s a hard task to do so.
The broker has also undergone some quiet changes in the last couple of years, promoting Ziad Melhem to CEO and also doing a few things to be more public-facing. We caught up with Ziad to find out what’s going on at the broker and why the company has managed to succeed in a market that so many firms are trying to crack.
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DK: You were made CEO of CFI in the middle of last year, what have the owners tasked you with doing?
ZM: CFI has been profitable for many years. It was built by its founders with a very entrepreneurial mindset. As the business grew, it became clear that the next chapter required a higher level of structure, governance, and scalability. My role is to help evolve CFI from a leading regional trading and investing provider into a global multi-asset platform, while preserving the culture, discipline, and speed that made the company successful in the first place.
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DK: Over the last eighteen months, the company has become more publicly visible – at least that’s my impression. You have investor updates, you’ve brought in external board members, there are volume figures that are published. What is the purpose of that? Is the goal to sell the company in the near future?
ZM: The objective is to institutionalise the business properly. We brought in independent board members and completed the board structure. The founders are now Chairman and Vice Chairman, supported by a full board with proper committees and governance.
Selling the company is not an option but readiness matters. Institutional structure gives you optionality. That could mean partnerships, a listing, acquisitions, or independent growth. You can’t responsibly pursue any of those without being ready. More importantly, this mindset helps you run the business in a healthier way. You don’t want to be forced into decisions because an opportunity appears suddenly and you’re unprepared.
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DK: You talked about taking the company to the next level, what does that actually mean in practice?
ZM: It’s about serving a broader range of clients. Clients don’t fit neatly into one box unfortunately. Some trade actively, some invest strategically, and many move between the two depending on market conditions. Success for us isn’t about one product driving volume. It’s about building a more complete and coherent experience that supports both trading and investing.
DK: But you’re not trying to become an investing platform in the style of eToro.
ZM: No. The intent isn’t to pivot away from trading. The intent is to strengthen the ecosystem so clients don’t need to leave it. Over time, we may add services that complement the platform, but the core will always remain trading and investing.
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DK: If I talk to UK brokers about the UAE market, they often note that you are dealing with very different competitors to the ones they’re accustomed to. CFI is one of the names that comes up as being one of the biggest players in the UAE and wider MENA region. Why do you think you have been successful here?
ZM: I would say consistency and long-term thinking. We were early to recognise the opportunity here and also approached it very comprehensively. We invested across the entire chain of brand, regulation, local presence, technology, product, service, and people. More importantly, we connect those investments instead of treating them as isolated actions. It’s relatively easy to enter a new market. What’s really difficult and what makes it hard for a new broker is building the real infrastructure, the reliable product, the strong local support, and a culture that clients actually can feel and trust for a long period of time.
We also spend a lot of time understanding each market. So we will never do a copy-paste translation of our product and then go into a new market. That approach fails. You have to understand how clients behave, how they define trust, and how they expect to be supported. In some markets, online support works. In others, human support is essential. Trust looks different in every market and we always have to spend time adjusting to that.
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DK: Are you feeling pressure from new entrants?
ZM: We started feeling it a few years ago, especially when regulatory changes in Europe pushed firms toward the UAE. Competition has increased significantly since then. But we also see that competition actually expands the size of the market. So five years ago, the landscape was very different here. Today the competition is very fierce but we have in some ways benefited from that and we are continuing to grow in the UAE actually.
DK: CFI seems to enter markets many firms haven’t before – so places like Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Palestine. There is often a risk with stuff like this where, on the one hand being a first mover can be a big opportunity. On the other hand, maybe there is a reason why people have not gone to those places already.
ZM: In markets where competition is lower, clients are often underserved. If you commit properly and patiently, you can build trust and positioning earlier than others. That’s one factor. But you also need to evaluate the actual opportunity. There is no point moving somewhere if the demand will be poor. Regulation matters as well and is something we always look at carefully. We look for signs that regulation is moving in the right direction in a specific market and that a licensed local presence will give us a long-term advantage.
DK: Can you say where CFI’s biggest market is today?
ZM: We have several core markets, including the UAE, Lebanon, Kuwait, and Jordan. Each plays a different role. Some are mature and steady. Others are growing quickly or are strategically important. What matters today is that the group is diversified and not dependent on a single geography, so we are in a very different position compared to five years ago. That’s a key part of our risk management strategy.
DK: A lot of brokers say current market conditions are killing them. Are you experiencing the same? [Editors note: We spoke before the gold market crashed at the end of January]
ZM: The conditions are unusual and, to be honest, it feels like we are in a new era, where there is constant volatility. We have the balance sheet and the technology to handle that but it does feel like we are in a different period of time now. What I would say is that we hear and see other deals or proposals being offered in the industry. Even before this was happening, we would say ‘this cannot make sense commercially’. For sure now that is the case and I think we will see a reset across our industry because of what is going on.
DK: You come from a marketing background and one thing that sticks out about CFI is the company does a lot more big brand campaigns compared to most of its peers. What is the thinking that underpins that?
ZM: A lot of companies in financial services treat marketing as a short-term optimisation problem rather than a long-term value creation system. For me, focusing on ROI means you are often measuring and looking only at one point – conversion. So you miss many other parts of the process.
When you do bigger branding campaigns, you are working with people on a different layer than conversion. And I think it’s also where the real magic happens as well. You want to be the first name that comes to mind when people think of trading and investing. You want to shape their experience and influence long-term behaviour.
You will never get immediate, short-term returns from this. But over the long-run it helps in so many different ways. When you do these sorts of campaigns, it is a signal about your seriousness and credibility. And that makes the whole chain work more smoothly. Performance marketing works better, partnerships work better, retention improves big time, your ability to expand into new markets becomes simpler. Even your relationships with regulators can improve because they see that you are a serious brand.
I think at some companies it’s hard to get these points across but at CFI, the owners are completely aligned with me on this and understand why we do what we do.
