NASDAQ Dubai to Launch Platform for Trading Sukuk and Bonds

NASDAQ Dubai, the Middle East’s international financial exchange, will launch platform on which investors can trade Sukuk (Islamic bonds) and conventional bonds. 


Euroclear Bank will clear and settle the trades. The platform will be available to institutional and high net worth investors and will be opened and gradually developed in coming weeks. 


The tradable securities will initially comprise at least 12 Sukuk and bonds that are listed on the exchange, with a nominal value of $10.9 billion.
Essa Kazim, chairman of Borse Dubai, the holding company for Dubai’s stock exchanges, said: “The new platform is a natural extension of Dubai’s existing role as a center for Sukuk and bond issuance and listing. NASDAQ Dubai will offer an efficient trading venue to participants from the region and around the world, providing fresh impetus to the growth of the capital markets in the UAE (United Arab Emirates) and the region.”


Tim Howell, CEO of Euroclear, commented: “Euroclear Bank’s proven post-trade infrastructure will complement NASDAQ Dubai’s new platform, helping issuers gain access to the largest and most diverse community of global trading counterparties. Our commitment to Dubai and the Middle East region will be strengthened further by this new relationship with NASDAQ Dubai.”

 Euroclear has had a representative office in Dubai since June 2011.
The platform will open with links to leading UAE and international financial services institutions, creating a first class trading and settlement infrastructure. For the first time, prices of NASDAQ Dubai-listed Sukuk and bonds will be visible to all investors simultaneously on the same screen-based system, through the exchange.
Currently the Sukuk and bonds are tradable through banks offering investors different trading structures and different prices (known as ‘over the counter’ trading).
In November 2006 NASDAQ Dubai became the first foreign depository to settle Dubai International Financial Exchange (DIFX ) trades.