Skip to content

Dubai Travel News

Travel & Tourism News of Dubai and rest of UAE

Menu
  • About
  • Advertise Here
  • Business Directory
    • List Your Company
  • Contact
  • Currency Rates
  • Privacy Policy
  • UAE Cards
Menu

Dubai: The New Normal Comes with Fries

Posted on January 21, 2012

Brokers choose sandwiches over stocks as trade volume sinks

By
Zahra Hankir


https://i0.wp.com/tn.exoticdubai.com/wp-content/plugins/rss-poster/cache/05a42_mf_dubai04__01__190.jpg?resize=190%2C177&ssl=1

Photograph by Newsha Tavakolian for Bloomberg Businessweek

Nabil Rantisi

Nabil Rantisi

Photograph by Newsha Tavakolian for Bloomberg Businessweek

A year ago, Nabil Rantisi spent his days trading stocks at a Dubai brokerage. Today he fills orders of a different kind. The gourmet deli he opened in September serves roast beef in a Yorkshire pudding wrap and other lunchtime fare to crowds that include his former clients. “Business was getting too slow, and at some point you have to decide where time would be spent in a more valuable way,” says Rantisi, who quit his job as brokerage director at Rasmala Investment Bank in June.

Three years after the collapse of a real estate bubble, Dubai’s financial industry is still in decline and shows little signs of recovery. Of the 98 brokerages active in 2008, 41 have suspended operations. The market value of shares in Dubai’s benchmark DFM General Index stood at $27.4 billion on Jan. 17, compared with $123.9 billion at the end of 2007.

Endowed with less than 10 percent of the United Arab Emirates’ oil reserves, Dubai has charted an economic course heavy on trade, tourism, and finance. The U.A.E.’s largest metropolis set its sights on becoming a regional finance hub. To attract global banks, asset managers and insurers seeking to capitalize on the region’s rising oil wealth, the city’s rulers set up a tax-free business park, the Dubai International Financial Centre, in 2004.

Goldman Sachs Group and Morgan Stanley were among those that opened offices there. By early 2008, Dubai’s main stock index had risen almost sixfold from its level five years earlier.

Then came the crash, caused largely by real estate speculation that left the government and state-owned companies saddled with about $110 billion in debt. Dubai, home to the world’s tallest skyscraper and palm-tree-shaped manmade islands, received a $20 billion bailout led by its wealthier neighbor, Abu Dhabi.

While the economy is on the mend—growth in the U.A.E. accelerated to 3.3 percent last year—foreign interest in Dubai has been dampened by Europe’s sovereign debt crisis. International investors bought shares worth $762 million in the third quarter, down 83 percent from the same period in 2009.

Banks including Credit Suisse Group and Nomura Holdings have trimmed their equities or equity research divisions in Dubai as trading volume has plunged. Al Futtain HC Securities, a leading Dubai-based broker, said on Jan. 4 it would end operations in the U.A.E.

Vyas Jayabhanu, the manager of Al Dhafra Financial Broker, has found a new line of business while he waits for the market to turn around. The 35-year-old broker is moonlighting as a hotel and nightclub developer. “In tourism, there’s something for everybody,” says Jayabhanu over coffee at Boutique 7 Hotel Suites, a four-star Dubai hotel he helped get off the ground. “Encouraging clients to trade in this market is not ethical.”

“The smart brokers who manage to stick around will capitalize big time when volumes come back,” says Rantisi. The owner of the 1762 deli—named for the year the Earl of Sandwich supposedly asked for his meat to be served between two pieces of bread—is not holding his breath. He and his partners are gearing up to open a second branch of their establishment in another Dubai business district next month. Says Rantisi: “Business has exceeded expectations.”

The bottom line: A prolonged slump has Dubai’s brokers looking for other lines of work. The market is down 84 percent from its high in 2005.

Hankir is a reporter for Bloomberg News in Dubai.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Recent Posts

  • FitsAir increases flights adds more choices for Colombo Dubai
  • The 40th Nights of Ramadan provides 17 days of enjoyable and fulfilling Ramadan activities.
  • UAE Council for AI and blockchain discusses the adoption of AI technologies in developing digital services
  • INDEX Dubai 2023
  • Ciel Tower World’s tallest hotel to open in Dubai 2024
  • Museum of the Future’s ‘Future Talks’ discusses human colonisation of the Milky Way
  • UAE’s official Golden Jubilee celebrations to be in Hatta
  • HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid approves formation of Dubai International Arbitration Centre
  • Lockheed Martin to showcase 21st century security solutions at Dubai Airshow
  • Sheikh Mohammed issues decision to merge Dubai Economy and Dubai Tourism

Advertisement

Our Sections of site

  • Amari Hotel Reservations Amari Hotels reservations
  • Brunei Travel & Culture Services Tours and hotel reservations Brunei Daressalam
  • Dubai Desert Safari Desert Safaris in Dubai
  • Exotic Dubai Tours Dubai tours safaris and hotel reservations
  • Guluna News
  • Kar group Dubai
  • Nawab Zippers Zippers Buttons and pullers for leaather garments in Pakistan
  • Qatar Tours Doha Tours, desert safaris and hotels.
  • Sri Lanka Travel & Culture Tours to Sri Lanka
  • Taj Mahal Hotel Reservations Taj Hotel reservation service

Partners

  • Biomed Articles Medical articles
  • Exotic Italy Tours Italy Tours
  • Hunza Tours and Treks Hunza Vally tours and hotels
  • London Pass London Pass web site online purchase
  • Tanzania Tours & Safaris Tanzania Travel
  • Travel & Culture Services Travel & Culture Pakistan

Subscribe our feed

Subscribe in a reader

Pages

  • About
  • Advertise Here
  • Business Directory
    • List Your Company
  • Contact
  • Currency Rates
  • Privacy Policy
  • UAE Cards

Categories

  • Abu Dhabi Events (131)
  • Duabi Property Deals (1)
  • Dubai Books (342)
  • Dubai Events (67)
  • Dubai Hotels Special Offers (20)
  • Dubai News (144)
  • Dubai Tours (19)
  • Dubai Videos (1)
  • Events/Conferences (15)
  • featured (26)
  • General (472)
  • International News (11)
  • New Hotels in ABu Dhabi (3)
  • New Hotels in Dubai (11)
  • People (3)
  • Products (88)
  • Technology (4)
  • Travel Industry News (330)
  • الصور (5)
  • عربي (56)

Tags

Abaya American Arab ArabIsraeli Arabs Brand New Burj business Christianity city Conflict Dhabi DSF Dubai Dubai Tourism East Edition Emirates From Guide Head History Islam island Israel Life Mark Middle Middle East Muslim Palestine Peace plans Politics Product Read remainder mark Scarf Shemagh travel UAE United united arab emirates White World
©2023 Dubai Travel News | Design: Newspaperly WordPress Theme