Sico maintains top broker status on Bahrain Bourse
COMMERCIAL NEWS
Sico, a leading regional asset manager, broker, and investment bank, has been named the Number One Broker on the Bahrain Bourse (BHB), a position it has retained for 23 consecutive years, with a market share of 59.62%.
Sico (licensed as a wholesale bank by the Central Bank of Bahrain) executed 19,245 transactions involving 1 billion shares with a total value of BHD233.3 million ($619 million), while capturing the bulk of block trades during the year.
Sico remains the broker of choice for institutional and individual clients in the Bahraini market and the rest of the GCC, offering clients value-added services such as an online trading platform and a research portal that provides regional insights and analyses of the majority of the region’s listed companies.
“We are very proud of our track record and our ability to maintain our position as the number one broker on the BHB for more than two decades and successfully capturing the upside of market recovery,” said Chief Capital Markets Officer, Fadhel Makhlooq.
“Our outstanding brokerage team has once again proven their ability to not only carry out trades but to also present their clients with their expert knowledge of markets which allows them to make informed decisions about their investments. This drive to sustain and improve our market position across Bahrain, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia is of course bolstered by the efforts of our in-house research team.”
Sico’s Brokerage division provides clients with a comprehensive product offering out of Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, and Saudi Arabia that includes direct securities including equities, bonds, and sukuks; single-product brokerage across the GCC and wider Mena region; as well as margin trading facilities for equities.
Sico’s Global Markets Trading Desk has also established itself as a market leader in the industry, with a diversified service offering that goes beyond regional markets. The desk offers access to local, regional, and international bonds, international stocks, and international alternative investments through its partners.
“We would also like to express our gratitude to the Central Bank of Bahrain and the BHB for their progressive approach to the development and supervision of the market,” added Makhlooq.
“Our performance for the year is a clear reflection of corporate recovery post the Covid-19 pandemic, which, in turn, was echoed in better volumes, a theme that was well-documented by our research team throughout the year. We continued to increase our client base for both institutional and retail, growing our value proposition and improving our market share in Bahrain,” commented Head of Brokerage, Mariam Isa.
Sico’s online trading platform, Sico LIVE, continued to offer clients seamless multi-market access across key stock markets in the GCC and select Mena markets from a single account, granting them the ability to trade in real time and access Sico’s research products. In 2021, Sico LIVE gained traction, with increases of 22.58% in the total number of orders and 56.49% in the total order value.
During the year, Sico’s brokerage division was also recognised by a number of prestigious organisations and awards programs, including:
•Bahrain’s Broker of the Year 2021----Global Investor Group Mena Awards;
•Best Securities Brokerage Bahrain 2021---Global Banking and Finance Awards; and
•Bahrain’s Best Broker 2021---EMEA Finance.-- TradeArabia News Service
