The Bahrain Financial Exchange (BFX), the first multi-asset exchange in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, hosted a successful educational workshop for the members of the Bahrain Chapter of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (BCICAI) on the 31st of January 2012 at the Gulf Hotel Convention Centre.
The Bahrain Financial Exchange (BFX), the first multi-asset exchange in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, hosted a successful educational workshop for the members of the Bahrain Chapter of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (BCICAI) on the 31st of January 2012 at the Gulf Hotel Convention Centre.
Well attended by the members of the BCICAI, the guests also included members of the Bahrain Association of Banks (BAB) and the members of the local and regional media. The workshop comprehensively discussed new alternative ways to leverage and maximise opportunities in the financial derivatives markets.
The guests praised the BFX's business model for its diversification as the all in one trading platform in the MENA region offering cash, derivatives, structured products and Shariah-compliant financial instruments. They also well benefited from the live trading demonstration which illustrated the high-tech capabilities of its automated platform as well as the liquidity and tight spreads in its current traded products.
The event guest of honour, Mr. Abdul Rahman Al Baker, the Executive Director of Financial Institutions Supervision at the Central Bank of Bahrain commented: "It is with great appreciation that I attend this workshop, and I thank the Bahrain Financial Exchange for taking the initiative in organising such educational workshops. There are many opportunities available in the capital markets today and it is important for companies in the industry to share their knowledge and extend their expertise to the rest of the business community."
Commenting on the occasion, Mr. Arshad Khan, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the BFX and the BFX Clearing and Depository Corporation (BCDC), said: "It is rewarding to see such large attendance at our first educational workshop of the year, and we thank everyone for joining us and for their great interaction with the lecturers. I also take this opportunity to thank the guest of honour Mr. Abdul Rahman Al Baker, the members of BCICAI, the Bahrain Association of Banks, Al Bilad newspaper, the Business in Gulf magazine and the Gulf Daily News newspaper for their extended support to the workshop and the BFX as a whole. The success of this event is an endorsement for the effectiveness of our corporate responsibility plan and we look forward to our future workshops."
Mr. T.D. Balraj, Chairman of the BCICAI stated: "We are really indebted to the BFX for organising this seminar for our members. The presenters explained the inherently complex topics in a very lucid way and the hands-on training our members received on their automated trading platform gave us a real feel of the BFX's capabilities and technological competence in the financial derivatives market. The Exchange has unveiled a wonderful opportunity to our members by opening doors to a financial supermarket."
The subsequent workshops will comprise of a set of university dedicated workshops, which will take place at the BFX's Training Institute (BFX-TI) premises located at the Bahrain Financial Harbour.