Nasdaq’s Chief Makes Case For Middle East Hubs
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Nasdaq’s chief executive, Robert Greifeld, is saying it would be a mistake to fear doing business with Middle East financial hubs such as Dubai and Qatar, as they have adopted American capitalist values and could serve as an inspiration for the rest of the region.
“Qatar and Dubai want to be like us — they want to be great capitalists,” Mr. Greifeld said yesterday at a conference hosted by the Economist Group.
Under a complicated agreement struck last month, Nasdaq sold 19.9% of its shares to Borse Dubai. As part of the transaction, Nasdaq will also get a footprint in Europe by acquiring the Nordic stock exchange, OMX AB.
The deal, which comes a year after Dubai Ports World’s failed bid to acquire several American ports, will go before the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which reviews sales of critical American infrastructure to companies controlled by foreign governments. Faced with changing global stock markets and increased competition from other electronic stock traders across the world, Nasdaq must seize opportunities such as the Borse Dubai deal, Mr. Greifeld said. “Our joint venture with Borse Dubai is about developing financial centers to serve these markets,” he said.
The conference, “The Future of New York City as the World’s Business Hub,” was held at the Jumeirah Essex House and included a diverse slate of speakers, from developers such as the Related Companies’ Stephen Ross to Mayor Bloomberg. It covered business issues including taxation, immigration, and legislation that affect New York City’s ability to compete.
“Dubai has shown that with enough government money and support you can build a financial market from scratch,” the Wall Street editor of the Economist magazine, Matthew Valencia, said.
New York has lost some of its competitive edge against other financial capitals such as London because those cities have closer ties to Middle Eastern markets such as Dubai, the president of the Partnership for New York City, Kathryn Wylde, said.
“We do nothing but dump on them,” Ms. Wylde told the conference, referring to last year’s failed ports bid.
