Bahrain Financial Exchange

__NOTOC__
The Bahrain Financial Exchange (BFX), on the Persian Gulf island kingdom of Bahrain, will commence trading in September 2010 on around a dozen contracts including sukuk and other Islamic financial instruments. BFX is owned by electronic trading exchange developer Financial Technologies India and is marketing mostly to Middle-East investors and will compete with the established Bahrain Stock Exchange. 
== Background ==
The BFX is regulated by the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) to trade a range of asset classes including stocks, bonds, commodities, forex, derivatives and Islamic-finance products such as sukuk. It was established in Bahrain as an officially registered corporation in January 2009 but actual public trading of listed securities was delayed by its owner anmd operator, {{Financial Tecnologies India Ltd]], following the financial crisis of late 2008. According to its own website,the BFX will begin trading in the first quarter of 2010 but earlier reports expected that date to be postponed further until late 2010.
In August 2009 BFX announced it would establish its exchange-trading operations in property on the Bahrain Financial Harbor, a self-contained working community aimed at the financial services industry in the Manama district of the island. Two months later, in October 2009, BFX announced it had joined the International Islamic Financial Market (IIFM), a global body representing insitutions aiming to grow the Islamic finance market worldwide.
== Key people ==
In February 2010, the exchange named Arshad Khan as managing director and CEO of BFX and BFX Clearing and Depository Corporation.
Also, Tawfiq Ismail Al Alawi was named as a member of the board as an independent non-executive board director.
BFX Chief Business Officer Craig Hewett has been responsible for all the commercial development of the exchange, including products, sales and marketing. He previously worked with the London Metal Exchange (LME) in business development and marketing, rising to the post of deputy commerical director. Hewett is an MBA graduate of Newcastle University (U.K.) and has also taught at the Chartered Institute of Marketing.
== Latest news ==
* The BFX recently signalled its intention to attract the listed shares of equity issuers from Jordan and Syria, where BFX officials have identified a large potential base not targeted by other major exchanges in the region.
Gulf-state issuance markets have recently been stymied by the 2008 financial crisis and by the recent default of developer Dubai World.
* In mid-November 2009 the Bahrain Financial Exchange joined the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institution (AAOIFI), which sets standards for Islamic finance securities, as an observer member. The move will help the BFX ensure that its sukuk and other Islamic financial instruments adhere to global Islamic requirements. 
* The BFX will officially launch in October 2010, the last of three new international exchange ventures during the year from parent company FTI, according to a report in late April, 2010 by India's Business Standard,. BFX's launch will follow those of the Singapore Mercantile Exchange (SMX) in August and the Global Board of Trade, Mauritius (GBOT) in September 2010, the report noted.
== References ==