Turkish Broker Ak Investment Launches Multi-Asset Trading in its True Form, TradeAll

Ak Investment, the securities arm of Akbank, one of the oldest and most established banking groups in Turkey, has expanded its on-line trading offerings to include margin derivatives. The firm will offer a range of domestic and global instruments including, major indices, currency pairs and commodity contracts via its new portal TradeAll.

Attila Penbeci, CEO of the brokerage, spoke about the launch of the new service in a comment to Forex Magnates, saying, "TradeAll is a multi-asset electronic Trading Platform which provides fast, reliable and accurate execution with a user-friendly and simple-to-use interface. Investors are now able to trade all major FX pairs, spot precious metals, index and stock CFDs, globally traded listed futures and international stocks all under one roof.

Combining a vast range of both exchange traded and over-the-counter financial products, TradeAll meets an important demand in Turkey by offering the opportunity to invest globally: 24/5 tailor-made customer support, graphical trading, competitive spreads and fees, mobile e-trading over iOS and Android, an all-in-one platform for global markets, where you can literally trade all."

Ak Investments has played a pivotal role in the introduction of electronic trading to both retail and institutional investors in Turkey, the firm was the first to launch Direct Market Access (DMA) for Turkish equities. Mr Penbeci states, "As the Turkish market is one of the most competitive emerging markets in Europe, it is always vital to be ahead of the crowd. Ak Investment was the first Turkish broker to introduce electronic trading, DMA and algorithmic trading for Turkish equities. In addition to cash equity trading, Ak Investment handles trading for futures and options on the Borsa Istanbul. These capabilities increased Ak Investment’s institutional client base."

Denis Borisovsky, CEO of PFSOFT technology provider of TradeAll, stated to Forex Magnates, "This project is very unique, not only for Turkey, but for the whole market. After only a short time of working with Ak Investment we were able to deploy this huge multi-asset project. The highlights include featuring listed international equities, futures, CFDs (indices and single stocks) and Forex instruments all within one platform and aggregation from top LPs. It's a great example of how even the biggest banks can effectively cooperate with us as a custom solution provider, instead of developing a proprietary platform. We are proud to work with, and congratulate Ak Investment and will do everything possible to help support them for their future growth."

Several Turkish banks entered the FX space post regulations. Ak Investment, the brokerage arm of Akbank and one of the largest Turkish banks founded in 1948, highlights the attractiveness of Turkey's electronic trading market. Prior to the FX regulations, Forex Magnates estimates that there were over sixty introducing brokers and white label partners operating in the country.

Another reason that banks have entered the FX markets is due to the capital requirements by the regulator, the SPK (Capital Markets Board) is currently reviewing the capital adequacy firms need to maintain, and is gearing itself to the upper limits, a concern for smaller brokers.

Akbank is a listed firm on the domestic markets in Turkey, traded on the Borsa Istanbul, and it is 20% owned by Citigroup (since 2007), as well as by members of the Sabancı family, a leading industrialist business family.

Ak Investment currently serves investors in Great Britain, Continental Europe, United States, Middle East and Far East.