Andrew Johnston

When Dubai World announced it would ask for a six month standstill on $26 billion of debt, it came as a surprise to many that Dubai World was not backed by the Dubai or Abu Dhabi governments.

The majority of investors were reassured by the close ties between state and business, but the truth is that many should have conducted proper due diligence on what they were investing in.

The reality is Dubai World investments are no different from a western corporate or property bonds. If things get difficult you invariably have risks and potential losses.

The negative effects towards Dubai reneging on its payments culminated in banks being hit by downgrades in their credit ratings. Moodys downgraded three Dubai based banks largely based on the weakening of Dubai’s economy and the knock on effect of negative investment sentiment sparked by the restructuring.

The fact is Dubai has had its credit crisis or I should say credit bubble. The rest of the world had been hit by the subprime debacle and now it was Dubai’s turn. The vision to build a Dubai with infrastructure and free trade zones backed by the oil rich investors would only last for so long without further investment. The massive property bubble which has hit the Gulf is a knock on effect from the tightening of credit to foreign investors and the crashes in equity markets in the western world.

The resulting collapse in the stock markets in the region combined with an overall sentiment of lacking confidence is hard to change and although the bailout by Abu Dhabi (which I think was never in question) will undoubtedly restore some confidence, the haze of uncertainty still looms for many countries in the region.

The impact on investors due to the Dubai crisis means they must now put greater focus on differentiating between sovereign credit risks and must demand higher compensation for holding debt of economies that are less fiscally robust.

The Dubai crisis has proven that even extremely commodity rich countries are not exempt from a credit crunch and world recession. The resulting bailout is no surprise but has highlighted further investment questions for the region. The question now is whether it is enough?

Kick start the new year with another reason to celebrate by trading your favourite markets with One Financial.

We have reduced our spreads even further making our tighter spreads… even tighter!

Please see below for a snapshot of our most popular products or download the full product sheet with all the new spreads.

Click here to start a live text chat with one of our Customer Support Staff.

Please note spreads quoted are not guaranteed and may change according to market circumstances. For full details of our Terms and Conditions, please consult your client agreement.

Andrew Johnston

One Financial is a leading London based FSA regulated FX and CFD market maker providing clients all over the world with the opportunity to trade the world’s financial FX, commodity and equity markets at the a touch of a button. One Financial has a majority shareholding by UAE interests and as such has a strong presence and special focus on the Middle East.

January brings the launch of One Financial’s New Year’s Trading Resolutions campaign aimed at drastically reducing FX and Oil spreads and clients’ margin requirements.

The FX market is the largest and most liquid financial market in the world. Traders include large banks, central banks, currency speculators and other financial institutions. The average daily volume in global foreign exchange and related markets is continuously growing but latest figures showed the spot FX market to trade almost $3 trillion a day.

The Oil industry is one of the most talked about in the world. The Middle East being at the core of this commodity and one of its primary market participants in production makes it increasingly attractive as an investment opportunity.

The inception of the trading resolutions campaign is in anticipation of the growing amount of investors who are looking for new financial opportunities and relationships. One Financial provides investors with tighter spreads, margins and markets so that they can execute their investment strategies with confidence and efficiency. Being regulated by the FSA under the statute of the UK Government, investors can also be confident about the integrity of One Financial’s operations.

One Financial, reflecting their strong commitment to the Arabic speaking demographic, serves the Gulf region through its Dubai office which has Arabic, Turkish, Urdu and English speaking staff. Sherif Sanad, Head of Marketing to the Middle East region from the One Financial Dubai office regularyly provides expert analysis on the financial markets through his appearances on Al Arabiya, CNBC Arabiya and Al Jazeera TV.

One Financial’s Dubai office also supports its clients by offering free financial markets training and support to help clients improve their trading skills and investment returns.

One Financial is always looking to support its clients and can be reached through a variety of means, online chat, telephone and email. To find out more, you can visit One Financial on www.onecfd.com for full details

Commenting on One Financial, Senior Trader Andrew Johnston said “One Financial strives to provide its clients with the tightest spreads with the cheapest costs. We talk to our clients and we react to what they need, the ability to provide tighter spreads for less is always a priority.”

For more details visit us at www.onecfd.com

Interbank spreads, Interbank liquidity

As an FX professional I understand the need for liquidity, best price and immediate execution.

Andrew Johnston

At One Financial our bespoke Direct Market Access FX trading platform will give you the benefits of the latest professional trading technology with all trades routed directly through to the underlying interbank forex price providers.

One Financial’s DMA FX Platform gives you:

• Real-time FX trading directly with the interbank market – not a deal desk broker – not an ECN broker
• No deals against you ; no re-quotes
• Competitive real-time FX market pricing with prices that can be traded in any market environment
• No ‘small client’ barriers
• Advanced trading platforms supporting multiple order types and instant execution (not RFQ)
• Market depth and open order watching
• FX pricing from the top tier FX banks
• API compatible for program and automated trading
• Undisclosed participants – full confidentiality

To find out more about how you can trade FX on interbank spreads and take advantage of One Financial’s DMA platform, contact me directly or click here to read more.

Andrew Johnston

Senior Institutional Trader

+ 44 (0) 207 534 0975

We are delighted to inform you that One Financial’s Head of Marketing (Middle East) will be appearing live on CNBC-Arabia on Thursday 7th January 2010 at 9.30am Dubai time and on Al Arabiya at 1.40pm, to talk about what’s happening right now in the global financial markets.