Recognising the importance of one of the world's fastest growing and dynamic financial centres, SmartStream has opened its Dubai office to serve the large and diverse financial community in the Middle East.

Ken Archer, CEO of SmartStream commented: "Establishing an office in the heart of such a strategically important market was always a central part of SmartStream's expansion plans. The Middle East is emerging as an important processing hub in financial markets and is home to some of the fastest growing and most innovative financial organisations, which is driving demand in IT innovation. With a local presence we can build on our previous success in the region and support these institutions' plans to deliver scalable and flexible transaction processing environments."

The Dubai office is a significant step in SmartStream's ongoing direct investment in the region. SmartStream will be offering its range of market leading Transaction Lifecycle Management (TLM) solutions, already used by more than 75 of the world's top 100 banks, direct to the Middle Eastern market. The company's flexible software design ensures it can rapidly deliver solutions that can create more efficient, customer-focused, cost-effective, compliant operations for the region's financial institutions.

SmartStream's office is based within the landmark building The Gate, home of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). This location, at the heart of a globally important and rapidly expanding financial centre will enable SmartStream to quickly gain momentum in the market, accessing potential customers and partners as well as opinion leaders from day one.

Nasser Al Shaali, CEO, DIFC Authority, commented: "With the ever expanding concentration of financial firms in Dubai and across the region the demand for industry-proven processing software is increasing. As a leading provider of software to the financial services community, SmartStream has a great deal to offer the institutions in tthe Middle East. We are pleased to welcome SmartStream to the world's fastest growing international financial centre and also look forward to working with them on developing the next generation of hosted information and trade processing services."