For the second year running, Royal Forex Trading SAL has been recognised for the firm’s outstanding work within online brokerage, offering some of the industry’s best products over recent times. This comes as numerous FX brokerage firms are being established worldwide every month and competition is increasing in emerging markets such as in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

Based in Beirut, Lebanon and regulated by the Central Bank of Lebanon, one of the strictest financial regulatory bodies in the world, RFXT has come to know the meaning of success. As one of the first brokerage firms operating in Lebanon, the firm began by carving a significant chunk of the local market before looking outwards to the rest of the region and the world. In little under three years, RFXT has grown to service thousands of clients worldwide with premium brokerage services that include products across the financial spectrum.

Trading growth in MENA
This success didn’t come easy though, especially in a region not known for its large trader demographics at the time. However, over the last few years online trading, primarily in FX, CFDs and to a lesser degree futures and equities, has grown exponentially, especially in the Gulf. The region now hosts international firms offering the same products and services, and in an already overly saturated sector, one main quality is increasingly becoming critical to traders: client services. This extends from the typical realm of 24-hour trading services and support to ease of operational transactions and security of funds.

It is no secret that the online trading industry has been plagued by less than trustworthy brokers and scams, not to mention major brokers seeking bankruptcy and liquidation due to insufficient and faulty risk management practices. RFXT though, has made it a priority to put its clients and their funds first through the use of segregated accounts, and maintaining a clear distinction between those funds and the firm’s own operational working capital. Furthermore, and as per local financial regulations, financial brokerage firms have to maintain risk committees and undertake mechanisms to mitigate the firm’s exposure to risks and hold off any threat to client funds or the firm’s financial viability.

RFXT’s management team has been trained by some of the industry’s largest and most respected financial institutions and strictly endorse fair business practice, foreign exchange regulation and increased investor protection. These underlying principles and the collective experience form RFXT’s solid base.  In another move to boost its credibility and reputation as a reliable, trustworthy broker, the firm’s Chief Compliance Officer, Mr Fady Jawlakh, was recently awarded the designation of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist by ACAMS.

Building on a secure organisational foundation, RFXT can offer its clients the services in most demand from FX and CFDs to metals and indices through the hugely popular MetaTrader4 trading platform. For more professional and institutional investors, RFXT also offers access to Futures through the exchange linked CQG platform and US, UK and European equities through the ROX interface, designed by Lek Securities that maintains a partnership with the NYSE. RFXT also caters to the growth in popularity of the MENA stock markets through the state of the art Mubasher DT platform that allows investors to access the stocks of publicly listed companies across 14 exchanges in the region.

“We are always looking to add innovative new products online as well as offline. RFXT will soon initiate its long awaited asset management programme which will include top of the line VIP managed account services,” says RFXT CEO and Chairman, Rayan El Annan.

“Our team will combine the highest standards in experience, professionalism and discipline to be able to offer this highly demanded service.”

On the institutional side, RFXT has revamped its White Label package to include more services and features for the same cost.  New brokerage upstarts can now take advantage of support services that aside from the trading platform and complementary technologies, include website content, company incorporation advice, back office setup, and optimised configuration.  The new firm’s staff will also be coached on all the skills needed to run a successful company from sales, operations, and compliance, to back office and IT networking. RFXT’s management believes that through this kind of assistance, new firms can get off to a running start.

To be able to offer these products to its clients in an efficient and quality manner, RFXT has invested heavily in the network infrastructure critical to running a top tier online trading brokerage firm. It has also linked up with multiple liquidity providers to ensure that the client experiences the best of online trading through superior execution and exclusive prices. This means RFXT’s clients can access trades at the prices they want when they want with no delay or re-quotes. At a time when there are brokers worldwide dictating the trades their clients can take, through manual dealing, RFXT gives its clients the liberty to completely control their trading destiny.

That is the fundamental concern of RFXT; providing its clients with the tools they need to achieve financial success. RFXT currently reaches its clients through several mediums to make sure traders have the information necessary to make educated and calculated decisions on whether to go long or short in a volatile market and manage their risk. Every morning, RFXT clients receive a summary of the previous trading day’s movement across the European, US and Asian markets, on their platforms and by email in addition to a comprehensive report offering analysis and recommendations on the seven major currencies, as well as on gold, silver and oil. Aptly named the Edge Report, it gives traders an accurate prediction of the market’s movements in the framework of the day’s economic calendar and technical analysis to keep them ahead of the game.

Furthermore, clients can also access an exclusive member’s area on the website, www.rfxt.com, through which they can study a multitude of reports and graphs displaying market movements, volatility, economic analysis and live streaming news and prices. All these studies are also augmented with updated economic news and releases by SMS directly to the client’s mobile phone. It is hard to imagine a more suitable environment for investor trading success.

Successful partnerships
Mr El Annan puts it best by affirming that “since the establishment of RFXT, we have strived to provide unparalleled service and superior spreads, as well as offering our clients all the necessary tools and guidance in order for them to achieve their financial goals. We pledge to uphold our industry standard by continuing to provide the best in service, financial products, support, and execution, 24 hours a day to fulfil their financial expectations.”

This is why the firm works with its clients as strategic partners to create and execute lucrative solutions that address traders’ most pressing strategic, financial and trading needs anywhere in the world.

Educational and trading support is not just confined to RFXT’s clientele but extends to society as a whole, forming a cornerstone of the firm’s corporate social responsibility programme. Aiming to provide trading awareness and advice to potential investors and traders as well as academic insight into the financial markets, RFXT has embarked on hosting seminars and lectures at its offices and at universities around Lebanon. The leading brokerage firm also makes it a point to sponsor campaigns that further the common good and address public concern such as road safety and awareness.

Investing in people is the bedrock of RFXT’s corporate culture, through acquiring and training its staff to the highest standards of performance and customer service. The firm boasts experienced financial professionals as personal brokers, account executives, and dealers at its state-of-the-art offices. In addition, its operations staff is top notch, accepting account applications and executing client requests with the speed and efficiency of a well-oiled machine.

RFXT has come a long way from the small brokerage firm it was in 2008. Thanks to the guidance and vision of its management and the perseverance, efficiency and professionalism of its staff, RFXT is uniquely positioned to offer its retail and institutional clients with the level of standards and quality expected of a premium financial services brokerage firm. It is up to time to tell us where RFXT will be next year but we can be assured of one thing: RFXT is here to stay.

The Japanese government late on Tuesday said it will add an estimated $60bn of funding to the IMF to help bolster its firewall, its finance minister Jun Azumi said.

Japan believes the injection will prevent the European sovereign debt crisis from dragging down other economies across the globe and shield it from a deepening crisis.

The Swedish government followed suit and promised an additional $10bn, while Denmark pledged an extra $7bn to the cause, bringing the total combined funds to $77bn from the three countries.

The IMF is seeking an added $600bn to uphold global economic stability but has so far only received $200bn.

Software giant Oracle commenced its high stakes trial over smartphone technology against internet concern Google in a California court.

The case represents the first big court challenge for Android technology and at an estimated $1bn claim it is expected to become one of the largest ever technology trials.

Oracle first accused Google’s Android team of patent and copyright infringement in August 2010 saying that Google used its Java programming language without authorisation to help develop Android software. It is believed that the trial may result in Oracle offering a user license to Google.

Testimony is expected to be given by the companies’ CEOs, Larry Page and Larry Ellison, in which Google is expected to say that Oracle cannot copyright certain parts of Java.

The case will be split into three parts to deal with patent claims, copyright liability and damages separately.

Kunlun Energy, the China-based gas supplier which is a wholly owned subsidiary of PetroChina, on Tuesday raised $1.35bn through a top-up share placement to help fund expansion of its LNG business.

The gas supplier hopes to tap into equity markets to assist in developing its liquefied natural gas arm and fund possible acquisitions. The plan is to steer away from oil and coal and switch to LNG. The group plans to construct 15 LNG plants to become the country’s largest onshore supplier.

Kunlar Energy priced its 800 million shares at HK$13.10, which was 7.62 percent below Monday’s closing price of HK$14.18.

“The company tends to use the net proceeds of the subscription for working capital to further develop its LNG business through the implementation of its gas in substitution of oil strategy,” the company said in a statement.

DryDocks World, the owner of the Middle East’s biggest shipyard, has filed a claim with a special tribunal in an effort to move forward its $2.2bn debt restructuring through a government decree.

The company filed a notification under Decree 57 with the Dubai World Tribunal, which will protect it from any claims coming from creditors.

The ship builder said that “a significant majority,” but not all of the creditors have so far signed the five year plan to repay the debt owed.

Spain’s newly elected Prime Minister Mariano Rayoy on Friday is expected to push ahead with one of the nation’s most hard-hitting budgets in recent times.

The news comes as almost a million protestors took to the streets late on Thursday after a general strike paralysed heavy industry and disrupted transport in Madrid and Barcelona.
But Rayoy said he is adamant and will stand by his promise to the other eurozone members to decrease the deficit in spite of the country’s soaring unemployment and current recession.

Rayoy’s Popular party will attempt to bring down the public deficit from last year’s 8.51 percent to 5.3 percent of GDP. This would mean an estimated €20bn to €30bn in austerity measures in addition to the already announced €8.9bn spending cuts and tax increases of €6.3bn.

Those in opposition believe Spain will struggle to deal with such austere budget cuts. The action is likely to lead to a rigid recession, which would make the adjustment even harder to meet.

Retail sales in Japan rose 3.5 percent year on year in February, said the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry on Thursday.

Japan’s retail figures saw the largest advance since August 2010 and beat analysts’ expectations of 1.3 percent, published figures showed. Sales were helped by a strong demand in the motor industry, according to the Ministry.

Car sales increased 21.4 percent, with Toyota Motors saying its global output grew 28 percent to 811,310 vehicles from a year earlier. Meanwhile, retail sales for fuel gained 4.8 percent year on year in February. Sales of beverages and food rose 2.5 percent, up 1.9 percent from the previous month.

The Nikkei 225 climbed to pre-earthquake levels this week indicating consumer confidence is returning. However, the country’s economy contracted 0.7 percent annually in the final quarter of 2011.

High profile Abu Dhabi investors have been in talks concerning a £10bn investment into Royal Bank of Scotland it was alleged on Wednesday.

Shares in the UK bank rose sharply by 4.6 percent in early trade following the news that Abu Dhabi’s ruling family including Sheikh Mansour and other Abu Dhabi and Middle Eastern investors could invest up to £5bn in RBS stock.

As much as a third of RBS could be sold to Abu Dhabi wealth funds but shares are still short of the average 49.9 pence the UK government paid for its stake. Critics say a sale at the current share price would therefore leave UK taxpayers with billions of pounds in losses.

Discussions have been ongoing for several month and the deal could happen by the end of this year sources familiar with the matter indicated.

Coutts, the 320-year old private bank famous for handling the finances of the Queen, has been fined £8.75m late on Monday by the FSA for money laundering violations in its dealings with high risk customers.

The RBS-owned bank, which specialises in private banking and wealth management, was found to suffer “serious and systematic” failings, which were “allowed to persist for almost three years,” according to the FSA.

Investigators found issues in almost three quarters of the client files it scrutinised. The problems discovered included lack of information gathering to establish the source of the money and failing to closer inspect customer transaction in customer accounts.

Coutts would have paid the higher fine of £12.5m if it had not chosen to settle out of court early.

Spanish lender CaixaBank, the Barcelona-listed arm of La Caixa, and smaller competitor Banca Civica SA have both suspended trading on Monday, said stock market regulator CNMV.

The move is in anticipation of a deal announcement that could see CaixaBank take over Banca Civica in an all-share deal that will value the bank at €1.1bn or €2.2 a share, reports showed.

According to local media, CaixaBank is planning to slash the combined workforce by about 3,000 to 3,500 employees, or 10 percent, and shut down around 15 percent of its branches.

Banca Civica shares on Friday closed at €2.22 while CaixaBank, which is worth an estimated €12bn, closed at €3.15.

The boards of both entities are due to meet Monday afternoon to approve the tie-up.