DUBAI - Mubasher Financial Services, the only Arab online broker with regional and international market coverage, sees increased interest from Asian traders and aims to expand its footprint to Chinese markets, Mubasher's CEO said Wednesday.

Speaking on the occasion of the launch of the new trading platform dutrade.com, which was designed especially for retail traders, Mubasher CEO Malek Kanawati said that "we see a growing customer base in Asia, as institutional and private investors appreciate the direct access to all Arab capital exchanges we can provide online."

Mubasher, which is Arabic and means direct, covers in Asia so far the financial markets in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, "but we plan to extend access to China, as interest from traders in Shanghai and Hong Kong is growing. Work is in progress in this regard," Kanawati added.

A direct access to the two Chinese markets can also work as a catalyst to increase the customer base in China.

Mubasher is headquartered in Bahrain's capital Manama and offers investors multi-asset trading services from one single platform, meaning the customer can trade stocks, bonds, options, futures and foreign currencies with one account and one single login.

Globally, the segment for online brokerage services is characterized by fierce competition, as online trading requires no physical branches of banks or a large number of employees.