Saudi capital markets leader launches new HTML5 platform

Ziad Tarek Abdullah Aba Al-Khail, Managing Director and CEO of AlJazira Capital talks about the new HTML5 based unique trading platform.

This is a very competitive sector, and there are many companies offering similar services in the market. What makes you different and stand apart from other competitors?

Aljazira Capital has decent capital, an excellent investment banking team, and is affiliated with one of the key banks in the Kingdom. Aljazira Bank is one of the oldest banks in the Kingdom.

In 2007, the bank became Sharia-compliant. The change was extremely beneficial, and it changed the bank from a loss-making bank to a very profitable institution. The sharia-compliant component is extremely important for Saudi retail customers.

Is the new HTML5 application a unique product to the market?

Aljazira Capital is the leader in technology. The previous platform was Java-based and competitors tried to copy it. Building on the past successes, the introduction of the new application trading in HTML5 will give the company an additional edge. The technology allows touch screen interactions, works on various browsers and across multiple devices. When we introduce a product for trading, we always try to have some unique features because better technology is our competitive advantage.

Who is your new target demographic?

It is a combination – active traders and young people. The plan is to satisfy the needs of traders and to diversify the sources of revenue in the brokerage business (like the 90-10 rule). The mass market – someone who opens an account and trades 5-10 times a year – this is our target client. You can actually cost-sell and educate these people on how to invest.

In terms of the value of the brokerage or yearly transactions, what is your market share?

Our market share stood at around 17% in 2015, which is number one in the market. In 2007, the company used to control almost 23% of the market, before the inclusion of the other 11-12 APs at the time. Our current target is 20%. In addition, the conversion to Sharia-compliant institution accounted for the 4-5% market share loss.