Fintechs tapping investor appetite
More expats and foreign investors trading
Growing demand from international investors trading in stocks on Gulf exchanges is creating opportunities for established and newer financial technology (fintech) companies alike to grow their Middle East business.
“We have seen the interest in trading on Gulf exchanges increase steadily over time, but demand has skyrocketed in the past year,” Damian Hitchen, regional head at tech-driven wealth management platform Saxo Bank tells AGBI.
In response, Saxo Bank plans to launch in-app trading on Gulf exchanges this year.
International investor net traded value – the total value of all shares bought and sold – of Gulf stocks has more than doubled year on year in 2025, according to research from Bahrain-based asset manager and investment bank Sico.
Foreigners traded almost $3 billion in stocks on the Abu Dhabi Exchange (ADX) in the five months to May 31, up from $1.3 billion in the same period last year.
On the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) exchange, foreigners traded $778 million, more than double the $323 million in the same period last year.
Even on Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul, international investor trades hit $642 million in the five months to May 31, up from $283 million. On the Kuwait stock exchange, the value of trade has shot up more than fivefold to more than $1 billion from less than $190 million in the same period last year.
Interest in investing in local exchanges used to be concentrated among Arabic-speaking clients, says Hitchen, but that is changing.
“Expats in the region that traditionally relied on Saxo to invest in US and European markets now also want to diversify geographically into the Gulf,” he says.
Gulf exchanges such as DFM — which has risen more than threefold since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020 — have outperformed their counterparts in Europe and the US.
Kuwait’s bourse has grown more than 12 percent year to date, underpinned in part by international capital.
In contrast, the UK’s FTSE 100 has grown just 7 percent.
Only Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All-Share Index is an outlier; it has shrunk by almost 9 percent year to date.
Regional fintechs are also tapping into investor appetite for Arab stocks.
Sarwa, a UAE-based wealth management platform founded in 2017, won approval to operate in its home market in 2020. It offers trading on the DFM and the ADX, alongside offerings like crypto trading.
Across its savings and investment offerings, Sarwa has over 180,000 users. To date, the platform has been used to trade more than $10 billion in volume.
