Unicorn Capital Saudi Arabia awarded brokerage license
14 December 2010
Unicorn Capital Saudi Arabia (UCSA), majority owned by Bahrain-based Unicorn Investment Bank, announces that it has been granted a commencement letter by Saudi Arabia's Capital Market Authority (CMA) to provide brokerage services in the Kingdom.
UCSA is authorised to provide a range of services, including trading in securities (as principal and agent), custody, underwriting, arranging, advising and managing, including funds and DPM. UCSA's Brokerage division will focus on developing its brokerage business in listed equities and fixed income securities. All operations and activities will be strictly in compliance with Shari'ah principles.
UCSA has been present in Saudi Arabia since August 2009 and offers an integrated range of Shari'ah-compliant financial services, including Asset Management, Corporate Finance and Private Equity.
Yousef A. Al-Shelash, Chairman of UCSA, commented: "The granting of our brokerage license is an important strategic milestone for Unicorn and will allow us to better support our clients in Saudi Arabia as well as our non-Saudi clients seeking access to the Kingdom's rapidly expanding financial sector. We are enormously grateful to the CMA for their timely review of our license application, and we look forward to expanding our product and services offering in the Kingdom."
Headquartered in Bahrain, Unicorn Investment Bank has established a strategic geographic presence in the United States, Malaysia, and Turkey, in addition to UCSA in Saudi Arabia. The Bank is also a major shareholder in Dawood Islamic Bank, Pakistan. Unicorn has completed several landmark transactions since its inception, including the establishment of T'azur, a regional Takaful company, and the acquisition of Bahrain Financing Company, the oldest and one of the leading foreign exchange and remittance houses in the GCC. Unicorn has also successfully arranged several landmark Sukuk transactions and is the only Bahraini bank to have bookrun a Sukuk transaction in 2010.
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