XS.com named Emily A. Aghajanyan as its regional director for emerging markets today (Thursday), handing a longtime Middle East dealmaker responsibility for expanding the broker across developing regions.

The appointment is the latest in a run of senior hires at the multi-regulated firm, which has spent the past year adding leadership and licenses as it chases growth outside Europe.

The broker has been adding senior staff steadily. It named Simon-Peter Massabni, a former Exness manager, as head of retail sales in March, and appointed Stelios Pallis as chief technology officer in early 2025.

Aghajanyan said she looked forward to helping "strengthen our presence in emerging markets, foster meaningful partnerships." XS.com, founded in Australia in 2010, did not say where she will be based or how large a team she will lead.

Rival Brokers Chase the Same Regional Talent

XS.com is one of several brokers stacking senior appointments in the region. Dubai-based amana this week named Andrey Artamonov, a former Devexperts executive, as chief technology and information officer.

Others have moved on the same front. CFI Financial Group appointed Martin Kiuru as technology chief in December and later named Amr Abdelbaky to run its Egypt business, while Equiti Group promoted Sartaj Singh to CTO in August.

The pattern tracks where the money is going.

Brokers have singled out the Gulf and North Africa as their fastest-growing markets, and rivals such as Exness have framed trust as the defining theme for regional growth in 2026, pointing to mobile-first users and local expertise.

Aghajanyan's mandate falls squarely in that contest, centered on commercial growth and partnerships instead of technology.

Group Chief Commercial Officer Wael Hammad said her leadership "will be instrumental in strengthening our position across emerging markets."

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A Career Built at Alpari and AMarkets

XS.com said Aghajanyan brings more than a decade in financial services, with senior roles across the Middle East, North Africa and other emerging regions. The company said her time at Alpari included expanding the broker's business across MENA and frontier markets and building out its introducing-broker network.

Her professional profile fills in the rest. She spent more than five years at Alpari, from 2020 to 2025, rising from chief business development officer to director for the MENA region, after an earlier stint as a director at AMarkets.

Most recently, from August 2025 to April 2026, she served as director of MENA and India at a Vantage partner firm in Dubai.

Her exit from Alpari in 2025 came as the brand went through upheaval. Alpari left Andrey Dashin's Exinity Group and saw a string of senior departures around the same period.

The company said Aghajanyan has been named among the top 10 most influential women in MENA financial markets and has spoken at regional industry conferences.