DFM adds 20,500 investor accounts in first seven months of 2022

The number of new accounts added by brokers more than tripled during the January-July period

The 27 brokers at the DFM executed more than 1.41 million deals during the first seven months of this year. Jeffrey E Biteng / The National

Brokers operating in the Dubai Financial Market more than tripled the number of investor accounts in the first seven months of 2022, amid the emirate's push to boost liquidity by listing state-owned companies.

The brokers added 20,552 investor accounts in the first seven months of 2022, up from 5,306 in the same period in 2021, state-run news agency Wam reported on Tuesday.

A total of 2,349 accounts were added in July, 2,850 in June, 2,468 in May, 4,258 in April, 4,401 in March, 3,231 in February and 995 in January.

BHM Capital Financial Services acquired the largest share of new investor accounts, at 3,471, followed by Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank Securities with 2,855, Emirates NBD Securities with 2,731, ADCB Securities with 1,369 accounts, International Securities with 1,192 accounts and EFG Hermes with 1,081 accounts.

Overall, the 27 brokers in the DFM executed more than 1.41 million deals during the first seven months of this year, trading 40 billion shares valued at Dh98.25 billion ($26.75bn), the report said.

The DFM reported a 134 per cent annual increase in second-quarter net profit on Sunday, driven by improved trading values and rising income.

Net profit attributable to the owners of the company for the three months ending June 30 climbed to Dh35.9m, while total income during the period jumped more than 33 per cent on an annual basis to Dh85.98m.

Last year, Dubai announced plans to list 10 state-owned companies as part of its strategy to double the size of its capital market to Dh3 trillion and attract foreign investment.

The emirate also unveiled plans to set up a Dh2bn market maker fund to encourage the listing of more private companies in sectors such as energy, logistics and retail.

The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority was the first government entity to list on the DFM in April, raising Dh22.41bn from its initial public offering.

The utility's IPO was the largest public float in the Middle East and Europe since Saudi Aramco went public in 2019.

Dubai's Tecom Group, the operator of business districts that are home to more than 7,800 companies, also raised Dh1.7bn from its IPO on the DFM in July.

Union Coop also became the first UAE retail co-operative to list its shares on the DFM last month.