FTSE opens new offices in Dubai International Financial Centre

DIFC's office will act as a hub for FTSE's growing operations in Africa

• First dedicated FTSE office in the region
• Dubai ‘gateway’ to high-growth region
• FTSE UAE Emerging Market status brings fund flows

FTSE Group (“FTSE”), the global index provider, has opened an office within the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). The total number of FTSE offices across Asia Pacific, Europe and the Americas is now 13.  The new office will provide a gateway for FTSE’s growing business in the Middle East and Africa.

“The new office will support FTSE’s regional presence, bringing FTSE’s global expertise to sovereign wealth funds and family offices. It will also act as a hub for FTSE’s growing operations in Africa,” said Jonathan Cooper, Managing Director, Middle East and Africa. “FTSE already works closely with domestic exchanges, market authorities and asset managers in the Middle East and Africa to support the development and capacity of domestic financial markets. This new office will further strengthen our ability to support our growing customer base in the region, “commented Cooper.

Welcoming FTSE into DIFC Community, Jeffery Singer, CEO of DIFC Authority, said: “We, are delighted to be chosen as the hub for the global index provider, FTSE. FTSE has a strong international presence and their decision to establish their regional base in DIFC will provide them with the ideal platform and modern infrastructure they  require to further develop and to support financial markets in the Middle East and Africa region”.

Since 2010, FTSE has classified the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as ‘Secondary Emerging’ in its FTSE Global Equity Index Series (GEIS). FTSE has established on going dialogues with markets across the region and Kuwait is currently on the FTSE Watch List for inclusion in GEIS as Secondary Emerging. FTSE’s country classification system was launched in 2004 following extensive market consultation and assesses each country against a set of 25 broad criteria. Leading ETF provider Vanguard recently transitioned to the FTSE Emerging Index for its (NYSEArca: VWO) Emerging Markets ETF, providing additional inflows to companies listed on Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, Dubai Financial Market and NASDAQ Dubai.

In Africa, FTSE has a long-standing relationship with the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) and calculates 110 indices across the FTSE/JSE Index Series. FTSE also recently launched the FTSE ASEA Pan Africa Index Series, which represents the performance of eligible securities listed on ASEA (African Securities Exchanges Association) member exchanges. The index series is designed for African investors and to act as a performance benchmark for African equity portfolios.

For more information about the FTSE Country Classification approach please visit: http://www.ftse.com/Indices/Country_Classification/index.jsp

A recent paper by FTSE notes that Emerging Market growth decoupled from developed market growth in 2000 and IMF projections now show EM growth at 6.2% compared with 2.6% for advanced economies.  For more information please visit:http://www.ftse.com/Indices/FTSE_Emerging_Markets/index.jsp