Cornerstone FS expands to Dubai and appoints new APAC GM

Karthik Subramanian

Cornerstone FS Plc, a provider of international payment, currency risk management, and electronic account services to SMEs, has announced the opening of a new office in Dubai as part of its expansion into the Middle East.

The company believes that the expansion into the Middle East at this time is key as the pandemic has brought about renewed interest in real estate in the region which is expected to lead to a lot of investments and fund flows shortly and the company wants to be better placed to make use of this opportunity. At the same time, it has also announced the appointment of Robert O’Brien as the new General Manager for the APAC and Middle East region. He had previously worked at Vorto Trading Limited and brings with him over 15 years of experience in the FX field. At Vorto, he was instrumental in bringing large investments into the UK from Asian clients.

Cornerstone has also announced the interim results for the first six months of the year with the volume picking up very well and reaching pre-pandemic levels. There was a drop in the number of white label clients and the volumes from them but the company was able to make that up from the direct clients which give it a better margin and revenue. It also launched an IPO on AIM during this period through which it managed to raise £2.7m. The transaction volumes grew by 151% as compared to the previous half-year while it grew 128% as compared to the same time last year and this helped the company to achieve very strong revenues. Revenue was essentially generated from the provision of foreign exchange and payments service in the form of spot and forward trades.

The company also updated its app during this period to improve on its product and feature offering and the updated app is expected to be released in the second half of the year. The company is expected to continue its strong growth and with the expansion into the Middle East also expected to boost its revenues in the coming months. It has been hit hard during the pandemic period but things are slowly returning to normal which is likely to help the company as the investors around the world look to loosen their purse strings once again in search of good returns.

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