Commercial Bank Finance Services (CBFS), one of the top three licensed brokerage houses in Qatar has been awarded as the ‘Most Innovative Mobile Trading App’ for the second consecutive year at the International Finance Award 2022. Established in 2011, CBFS is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Commercial Bank with paid-up capital of QAR 700 million and is regulated by the Qatar Financial Markets Authority (QFMA). CBFS is on a mission to become a “Brokerage House of Choice” for domestic and international clients by offering them first-to-market and best-in-class products and services leveraging digital technology in order to help them meet their financial goals.
Moreover, CBFS provides customers with secure platforms to trade on Qatar Stock Exchange-listed stocks, bonds and treasury bills. Customers can trade directly through numerous channels during trading hours i.e. online and mobile trading applications from anywhere during market trading hours. Clients can also call directly at CBFS dealing room phone lines to place their trades. In addition, CBFS provides periodic local and global market economy and company research for clients to help them make informed investment decisions.
International Finance Magazine spoke to Shahnawaz Rashid, Director, Commercial Bank Financial Services, where he discussed how CBFS intends to stay on top with core enhancements and future updates.
Shahnawaz Rashid said, “We would like to thank International Finance for recognizing the innovation and awarding us with the Most Innovative Mobile Trading App for the second consecutive year.”
“Despite the recent success, CBFS is keen to maintain its innovation culture since it is a strategic goal. The next step for innovation is to bring smarter utilization by customers through the usage of data science and machine learning to deliver a seamless reallocation of customer limits that will further personalize users’ trading and investment experiences. It will understand your behavior and trading patterns to ascertain customer limit requirements,” Shahnawaz Rashid explains.
Data is the most crucial element of today’s trading infrastructure. This element allows the provider to establish a one-to-one relationship with its clients and ensures that all operations remain relevant to the market needs. With this in mind, he says that CBFS is willing to take the use of data to the next level.
He said, “One of the things that we’re trying to do with big data is to say that we can predict things, for example, by identifying previous patterns and explaining to clients the results of these patterns and then we can propose potential solutions to them”.
Shahnawaz Rashid is aware that all these new technologies have one thing in common. They have the potential to disrupt the financial services industry in a meaningful way, where simplicity and functionality will be the core and driving forces behind financial operations.
“Through continuously investing heavily in our mobile application, CB Waseet, we want to stay up-to-date with technological trends and adapt it to make it easier for everyone, from seasoned investors and beginners to trade on. The iterations and tweaks are released regularly and at off-peak times to ensure that we have a robust, stable platform for our clients during trading hours and no disruption is faced by the users. CBFS, works with the agility of a start-up and is, therefore, able to bring first-to-market services,” he added.
Shahnawaz Rashid wants the CBFS product offering to remain ahead of the industry.
“I believe we are at a tipping point because the world is transforming with globalization, regulations, etc. Many things are changing, and, with the Football World Cup 2022 in Qatar, the attention is for everyone including ourselves to provide world-class services” he concluded.