EFG Hermes Expands Market-Making to Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange
The Egyptian group's UAE brokerage unit will quote buy and sell prices on selected ADX securities, after a similar launch on the Dubai Financial Market.
Tariq Benali Tariq Benali covers business and corporate news across the UAE and MENA for Anecdoted, tracking the deals, leadership moves and regulatory shifts behind the region's companies. tariq@anecdoted.com
EFG Hermes UAE has started providing market-making and liquidity provision on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, pushing its brokerage operations into the placement of buy and sell orders in a chosen set of listed securities.
The company, which sits inside Egypt-based EFG Holding, announced the move in a Friday statement. It said the activity would place buying and selling quotes in line with ADX rules and the regulatory requirements that govern the exchange.
How the service works
A market maker posts orders on both sides of a trade rather than waiting for one. Because there is usually a quote available to take, investors find it easier to buy and to sell, and the gap between the asking price and the bidding price tends to narrow. A tighter spread can translate into lower costs for the people doing the trading.
Liquidity providers have a second role. They can work alongside listed companies to keep their shares trading after an initial public offering, a period when volume often thins out once the listing itself is done.
Ahmed Waly, global head of brokerage at EFG Hermes, said the offering moves the firm past securities execution and into the business of supporting trading in shares that are already listed.
With Abu Dhabi added, EFG Hermes can now run market-making on both of the UAE's main bourses. The company has not said how many securities it will quote on ADX, and it has not put a figure on the revenue it expects the service to bring in.
Dubai came first
The ADX launch follows EFG Hermes UAE's introduction of market-making and liquidity provision on the Dubai Financial Market on October 12. Both services follow the same template: standing quotes, an exchange rulebook, and a list of instruments the firm selects rather than the full market.
Brokerage, research and investment banking already carry the firm across the region. In May 2026 it teamed up with ADX on an investor event that put executives from listed companies in the same room as institutional investors from the region and further afield.
Dubai brokerage share
On the Dubai Financial Market, EFG Hermes held a 50.9% brokerage market share during the quarter, against 48.5% for the first half of the year, according to EFG Holding's second-quarter 2026 financial results.
Valuation and leadership
EFG Holding took 17th place in a 2026 ranking of Egypt's 50 most valuable companies, carried by a market value of $880 million. Karim Awad, the group's chief executive and chairman, was placed 63rd in a 2026 list of the top 100 chief executives and 23rd in a ranking of the top 50 asset managers.
What remains open is the scope of the ADX mandate itself: the number of securities EFG Hermes will quote, and what the work adds to group revenue, are both still undisclosed.
