XTB opened rebuilt Investment Plans to clients in the United Arab Emirates today (Monday), letting them mix stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in one portfolio. Until now, plans there were built from ETFs alone.
When the product first reached the UAE in January 2024, a plan could hold at most nine funds. Clients can now choose from more than 3,400 stocks and 1,800 ETFs, according to the broker's UAE website.
Investment products are where most of XTB's new customers now start. Shares, ETFs and Investment Plans accounted for 82.9% of first transactions by new clients in the European Union in the first half of 2026, although contracts for difference still generated 96% of XTB's trading result.
London's trading industry is coming home!
Ready-Made Portfolios for First-Time Investors
The new version gives three ways in: globally diversified plans matched to a risk profile, plans built around a single sector, and a do-it-yourself option. The minimum stays at $15, and plans can be opened and closed at any time, the broker said.
The UAE gets the version that went live in Germany and Spain on July 6, 16 weeks earlier, before reaching Czechia, Hungary and Slovakia. Automatic recurring purchases and on-demand rebalancing carry over from the old plans, XTB said.
The product is aimed at the flow of newcomers. Across all its markets, XTB added 864,000 clients in 2025 and ended the year with 2.16 million, FM Intelligence data show.
XTB CEO Omar Arnaout said more new clients begin with stocks, ETFs or their own plans, so the broker now offers "ready-made solutions that ensure sector diversification and match their risk tolerance."
Mainland Licenses Came First
The upgrade follows a change in how XTB holds its UAE clients. XTB has operated in the country since 2021 under a Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) license, and this year it moved onto the mainland.
In April, the Capital Market Authority (CMA) granted XTB Category 1 and Category 2 licenses that let it onboard and trade for local clients. Its earlier Category 5 license allowed only marketing, with clients booked through an offshore entity.
A CMA license covers retail clients in all seven emirates, which a DFSA license, confined to Dubai's financial free zone, does not. That is one reason brokers are turning to the mainland regulator.
The market is the largest in the region by broker website traffic. The UAE drew 1.4 million organic visits to retail FX and CFD broker websites in the third quarter, the most in the Middle East and North Africa, although 23% fewer than in the second quarter, FM Intelligence's heat map shows.
Automated portfolios already have a local player with scale. Sarwa, an investing platform founded in Dubai, said in May it had passed $1 billion in client assets, according to the Dubai Media Office.
This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.
Source: Finance Magnates
