Dubai Broker APC Prime Hires XS.com's MENA Director as Global CEO

Dubai-based retail broker APC Prime has appointed Shadi Salloum as its global chief executive, putting him in charge of its operations worldwide and of an expansion push beyond the Middle East and North Africa, the region where the company says it has built its business so far. The appointment was announced on Thursday.

Salloum joins from XS.com, which hired him as its regional director for MENA in July 2023. His LinkedIn profile still lists that role and shows roughly 15 years at retail brokers in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Cyprus, mostly in sales and client management, with no earlier chief executive title. While at XS.com he commented publicly when the group added a UAE Category 5 license in October 2025, a point at which the broker counted eight regulatory approvals.

Leadership overhaul and overseas hiring planned

According to APC Prime, Salloum will rework the company's leadership and operating structure, look for new markets and hire the teams and partners it needs abroad. He said the plan is to build on the firm's regional base and "accelerate its evolution into a truly global broker." APC Prime already lists offices outside the Gulf: its Arabic-language profile on X describes a Dubai base with additional offices in Turkey and Malaysia.

On the regulatory side, APC Prime says it holds licenses from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and from the UAE's Capital Market Authority (CMA). The CMA has become a favoured route for brokers seeking reach across the UAE mainland. PU Prime, Empire Markets and Mitrade all received licenses from the regulator between February and April this year, a trend highlighted around Kudotrade's initial CMA approval and the opening of its Dubai office.

Salloum's background includes close to four years at Exness in Dubai and Limassol, where he finished as a country manager. Earlier in his career he held sales roles at Equiti in Jeddah, at AxiTrader — now Axi — and at Alpari in Riyadh.

Rivals have been filling similar regional posts. HFM named Mohamed Elgayyar head of GCC and Egypt on August 31, adding to earlier regional appointments at the firm. In June, XS.com made Omar Alaa its MENA marketing director, the third senior executive it had recruited from Exness, where XS.com group chief executive Mohamad Ibrahim also worked.