Mr. Anthony Loh and Dr. Fereidun Fesharaki Join DME Board of Directors

Dubai, UAE - July 15 2009: Ahmad Sharaf, Chairman of the Dubai Mercantile Exchange Limited (DME), has announced that the DME has welcomed Dr. Fereidun Fesharaki and Mr. Anthony Loh as new members of the DME Board of Directors. 

Dr. Fesharaki is the Chairman of FACTS Global Energy, an energy consultancy firm with offices in Singapore, London, and Hawaii. He has focused on the East of Suez oil markets for the past 30 years. Dr. Fesharaki also served as Energy Advisor to the Prime Minister of Iran in the late 1970’s. 

Mr. Loh joins as an independent director with many years of experience in capital markets across Asia. With previous appointments including running the Asia Pacific operations for companies such as the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Bank Boston and Peregrine Fixed Income, he has unrivalled insights in to the Asian markets. 

Commenting on the appointments, Mr. Sharaf said: “Welcoming these gentlemen to the DME’s Board of Directors will add a further global dimension to the present team, as both bring extensive experience in Asia and the Middle East to our existing team.” 

Dr. Fesharaki replaces Rashid al Shamsi, who has served as an independent director on the Board since 2007, and Mr. Anthony Loh replaces Dennis Dutterer, who joined the DME Board as an independent director in 2006. 

“We are grateful for the support and insight contributed by Mr. Dutterer and Mr. al Shamsi during their tenures on the DME Board of Directors. During June 2009, the DME not only celebrated its second anniversary, but also recorded a new record of 8,076 contracts traded in one day, on June 23rd. This record followed the announcement that the Dubai Department of Petroleum Affairs would set its OSP based on a published differential to the DME Oman contract, and underlined the positive market reaction to this news. 

“We look forward to leveraging the extensive market knowledge, bank of contacts and unique insights of both Mr. Loh and Dr. Fesharaki for the further growth of the DME as we enter our third year of trading,” concluded Sharaf. 

Full biographies of all Board members on the DME Board of Directors are available here.