YO: Can you tell us about your personal background?
Ali Al-Yemeni: My Name is Ali Abdulhadi Al-Yemeni and I was born in Hufash, Al-Mahweet province on Oct 30th, 1968. I moved to Bajel Al-Hudaidah province where I continued my secondary and high school education. After that I studied at Yemen American Language Institute (YALE) in Sana’a to prepare for TOEFL to join American University. Then I went to the USA in 1990 to study Computer Science and Mathematics as a scholarship. After college, in 1995, I moved to New York where I worked for New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) datacenter and as a business owner until I moved to Japan Dec 16th, 1997.

YO: Can you tell us a little about the nature of your work and with whom?
Ali Al-Yemeni: Since I moved to Japan twelve years ago, I have been working for world-class investment banks such as NYSE, Deutsche Bank, Citigroup, Swiss Bank and Barclays Global Investors.

My work is an Information Technology Enterprise Architect and my last title is Vice President, Global Equities Global Markets Relationship Manager. I will explain these positions so that people can understand better. An Information Technology Enterprise Architect (ITEA) is an architect that will be challenged to take a company’s business strategy and then defines technology systems architecture to support that strategy. It is not an easy job to do, as you have to understand technology as well as the banking business in depth. I am not talking here about retail banking. I am talking about stock market shares, equity products such as future and option contracts, fix income products such as government bonds, asset management products such as pension funds and so on. In addition, to that you have to understand the law and regulations for this business. This area is where my title is global equities/global markets relationship manager or what we call it (RM). Relationship Manager must understand the business and build robust technology to help the business traders to buy/sell shares, settle the payment, etc and more importantly compete with other banks. Furthermore, I have to manage technology teams to support trading floors, manage projects to generate revenue, cost saving, strategic and planned systems enhancement, new office moves, etc…

To make it clear, let me define what a stock market is, so that the reader does understand what we are talking about

A Stock market or (Bursa in Arabic) is a place where shares, stocks and bonds are bought and sold. Equity and Fix Income stocks are just products that are getting bought and sold in the stock market exchange.

YO: Can you walk me through a trade workflow process?
Ali Al-Yemeni: Sure, let’s assume Yemen has Stock Market Exchange called SHIBA.
There are two basic ways exchanges execute a trade:

1. On the exchange floor
Here is a step-by-step walk through the execution of a simple trade on the exchange floor of SHIBA Stock Exchange for example. Assuming Yemen Observer has already public shares
* You tell your broker to buy 100 shares of Yemen Observer Shares at market price.
* Your broker’s order department sends the order to their floor clerk on the exchange.
* The floor clerk alerts one of the firm’s floor traders who find another floor trader willing to sell 100 shares of Yemen Observer shares. This is easier than it sounds, because the floor trader knows which floor traders make markets in particular stocks.
* The two agree on a price and complete the deal. The notification process goes back up the line and your broker calls you back with the final price. The process may take a few minutes or longer depending on the stock and the market. A few days later, you will receive the settlement confirmation notice in by the agreeable mean.

Of course, this example was a simple trade, complex trades and large blocks of stocks involve considerable more details.

2. Electronically
The electronic markets use fast computer networks to match buyers and sellers, rather than human brokers. While this system lacks the romantic and exciting images of exchange floor, it is efficient and fast. Many large institutional traders, such as pension funds, mutual funds, and so on, prefer this method of trading.

This is where many banks I worked with use some people like myself to design state of the art computer network to be able to grab a great deal of market shares electronically.

YO: How long have YOU been working in this field and where?
Ali Al-Yemeni: I have been working for over 12 years with NYSE, Deutsche Bank, Citigroup, Swiss Bank and Barclays Global Investors in many countries such as US, Japan and Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan.

YO: How significant is the stock market in your opinion?
Ali Al-Yemeni: It is very significant as it leads to stronger economy and eventually economy will become a decision maker in many aspect of life including politics. Economy needs reform and having a successful stock market can help the country fight poverty, unemployment, terrorism, and so on. I think we can all agree that the stronger economy the country has, the better living standard its citizen will have. Stock Market will make money and pay for many infrastructure in the country in the long term.

YO: Three weeks ago REUTERS reported that Yemen intends to open a stock market, from your experience, do you think Yemen is qualified to do so and if so what are the most essential things that Yemen should have to DO TO launch a stock market?
Ali Al-Yemeni: Yemen through history is well known about trade and the Holy Quran mentioned the prove of that “For their taming (We cause) the caravans to set forth in winter and summer.” (106/2). However, Yemen needs to go through a readiness checklist and answer every question very honestly in order to determine how ready they are to open a stock market exchange. Some of the questions in the list I would assume, first, stock markets need solid basic infrastructure such as electricity, high-speed bandwidth network, reliable telecommunication systems etc.. Second, Yemen needs well-trained and specialized human resources in this field. Third, Yemen cannot put a stock market without the solid ground of stock market law to protect the investors and the market. Forth, Yemen security and stability is a must to attract investors. Fifth, Yemen needs liquidity. These points will layout the ground work for stock market investment and other investment weather the investors are local, regional or other industrial countries.

YO: What kind of guarantees that Yemen should have to attract investors?
Ali Al-Yemeni: Government strong will to make it successful. In addition, Yemen has great military forces and country security and stability are their line of work and duty. Furthermore, Yemen should establish and continuously enhance trading law to regulate the stock market. Corruption must be eliminated and I have read and heard slim progress in this area. They are not easy tasks but doable.

YO: Do you think there are enough experts in this field in Yemen?
Ali Al-Yemeni: Yemen has very smart human resources but scattered in and outside the country. I believe there are some qualified people but may be lacking experience. In this point in particular, it is just a matter of time and money to bring them up to speed. It is also sad to hear that some university students go to college because they need a certificate so they can find a job. Where is the value of education and who has the formula to change this mentality on students and what can the educational authority do to fix it before it is too late? It is reality that over 60% of Yemen population is under 16 years of age. Sooner or later, they will join collages and what is the motive for them?

YO: In your opining, what is the most dangerous thing about the stock market in Yemen?
Ali Al-Yemeni: There is not stock market exchange in Yemen yet so we do not know. However, the most dangerous in my experience and what happened in the recent years is stock manipulation due to the lack of solid market law or lack of supervision or human error. I will not go in details about global economic meltdown recently as many people had read or heard about it. However, in 1994 Nicholas Leeson brought Barings Bank in London to Collapse in one-day trade and the estimated lost was over $1billion dollars for example. Could this be prevented? The answer is YES. It was totally lack of supervision and regulatory law. In 2005, a typing error caused Mizuho Securities Co in Japan to lose at least 27 billion yen ($225 million) on a stock trade. There are many examples like these; however, the idea is the lessons we can learn from other people’s mistakes and not repeating them.

YO: What are the benefits that Yemen can get from opening a stock market?
Ali Al-Yemeni: Yemen has limited natural resources and it is a matter of time when it all ends. Since Yemen is facing 4 problems to deal with, Economy, Al-Huthei, Al-Harak, and Al-Qaada. Let’s concentrate on the first issue, which is economy. Reforming economy is a must and establishing a stock market exchange will help Yemen:
* Economy grow: Yemen is a developing nation and need more capital to fund the new projects, set up plans and to grow and expand the operations.
* Banks do not like risk: A banker is a guy who lends you an umbrella on a fine sunny day, but takes it back the moment clouds appear on the horizon. However investors are known to be much more patient and show overwhelming support to good enterprises, which are in distress.
* Curb Corruption. Stockholders want records, audits and paper trail of every transaction. They stay away from companies, which deal in grey market for these companies tend to make the promoters richer at the cost of the investors. Hence stock markets make a friendly environment to do business in.
* Reward Ingenuity: Gone are the days when the revenues and profits increased by a fixed predictable percentage every year. In a knowledge-based economy, the best companies do not think about capturing 1-2% more of the market share, but creating a whole new market. The only way to value these companies is the stock market for the companies are many times more than their book value.
* Mobilizing the savings: It gives a common man to relax and let his investments work for him.
* Redistribution of wealth: Money attracts money. A common man like you and me cannot hope to start a whole new industry and reap the benefits, but through stock markets, we can definitely become a partner.

YO: Do you have any advice or ideas that can enlighten the interested people in opening the stock market in Yemen?
Ali Al-Yemeni: Yemen has had great relationship with Golf states especially UAE, Jordon, and other countries. I would recommend not only Yemen but also Gulf states to share information on how to establish new stock market exchange because Yemen economical growth is security to other countries in the region. I would say UAE can contribute significantly as their infrastructure is solid and Yemen does not need to reinvent the weal.  

YO: In case, the stock market was opened, will you go back to Yemen to work or to invest?
Ali Al-Yemeni: Yemen needs to make the call. I am not just talking about myself but I believe all Yemenis who have left Yemen for the sake of good life to his or her family will answer this call with great wealth of knowledge or investment. This will happen and agreed by all without personal connections by putting the right person in the right place. It is always good to have some people loyal to you in management but it is worth to listen to other people’s ideas. Personally I think my work abroad is just a preparation to go back to Yemen and serve there and that is an investment by itself. There is a famous proverb that says “You can take the boy out of his country but you cannot take his country out of his heart”. period.

Any last word or message you want to say?
Ali Al-Yemeni: This is to the investors, stock market in Yemen or other countries is a win or lose and nothing in between regardless of political regime. If you the investors manage your investment properly and make good decisions, it is always a win situation.

Finally I wish all people in Yemen or believe in Yemen prosperity to make the right call