EFG Hermes

Status: Researched · 8 June 2026. Confirm exact commissions for your market directly before trading.

What it is

EFG Hermes is the leading investment bank and broker in the Middle East and one of the few names with a genuine frontier-markets franchise. For this directory it’s important to separate the two completely different products:

1. EFG Hermes One — the retail side, marketed as one app but operationally an account per market: Egypt, UAE and Saudi confirmed by correspondence, plus US/European global lines via the OLT/Saxo affiliate. (The FAQ also names Oman and Kuwait — see below.) Open to foreign individuals.
2. The institutional “Frontier” desk — the famous pan-frontier reach (Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, plus Saudi/Jordan and the deeper GCC franchise). This is built for funds, not for a retail individual.

EFG Hermes One (retail) — costs & minimum requirements

From the EFG Hermes One FAQ (app.efghermesone.com/faq, June 2026): EFG Hermes provides access to “markets in the MENA region, including Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Kuwait,” and adds that it also offers access to global markets such as the United States and Europe, across a variety of asset classes. Which European venues that means is not specified — one of the things to confirm directly.

This is the part a foreign individual can actually use:

• Minimum deposit: none. There’s no minimum to open and no minimum to start trading — you can begin with any amount.
• Markets: Egypt (EGX), the UAE (ADX, DFM, Nasdaq Dubai) and Saudi (Tadawul) — confirmed in contact-center correspondence (June 2026) — plus US/European global lines (USD/EUR/GBP supported) via OLT. The FAQ also names Oman and Kuwait, but the contact center’s own account list didn’t include them, so they’re off the coverage map until corroborated. It’s an account per market, not one universal account.
• Eligibility / documents: foreign individuals can open an account — a clear passport copy plus a second ID; UAE residents also need a valid residence visa. Onboarding is online.
• Timeline: about 2 working days in Egypt; 2–3 working days in the UAE once an investor number has been issued (longer if the market authority still has to issue one).
• Withdrawal fee: none from EFG (your own bank may charge for the transfer).
• Commissions: a per-market percentage of trade value — and, importantly, EFG does not publish a single public commission schedule. The rate varies by market and account, so confirm your exact commission before trading (EFG contact centre: 16900 / +20 2 35357200 / hermescontactcenter@efg-hermes.com). Treat any third-party “X%” quote as unverified.

What direct correspondence has surfaced (June 2026)

I emailed the contact center asking for the exact retail market list. The answers so far are revealing — less for what they confirm than for how the structure actually works:

• It is not one account. Despite the single-app marketing, the contact center’s answer was that you open an account per market — “EGX, Saudi, UAE and global” were the examples given. Saudi Arabia appeared as a retail account option even though the One FAQ omits it — while the FAQ’s Oman and Kuwait went unmentioned in the same list, which is why those two stay off the coverage map as uncorroborated FAQ claims.
• “Global” is a separate entity. Questions about the US/Europe lines were redirected to OLT Investment International (B.S.C.) — EFG’s Bahrain-based affiliate that acts as the group’s global-markets brokerage arm, with a platform built on Saxo Bank’s infrastructure. So a “global” trade placed through the EFG One ecosystem is custodied along a chain of EFG app → OLT (Bahrain) → Saxo — worth understanding before funding (see counterparty risk).
• The global market list, answered. OLT’s desk replied with the concrete list — 19 developed markets: US (Nasdaq/NYSE/ARCA), Canada (TSX), UK (LSE), Australia (ASX), Hong Kong (HKEX), ten European markets (Germany, France, Switzerland, Spain, Ireland, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Austria, Portugal) and the four Nordics. Notably a subset of Saxo’s own coverage — no Singapore, Japan or CEE. Onboarding is digital through the EFG Hermes ONE app (passport + national ID + proof of address); existing One clients add Global Markets to their account; funding is accepted in USD, EUR, GBP and BHD — the Bahrain dinar a quiet reminder of where the entity sits. Still unanswered from my original questions: the Oman/Kuwait retail lines, and whether anything depends on residence.

The institutional / Frontier desk — costs & minimums

The reason EFG Hermes is famous is its Frontier brokerage: research, execution and clearing across Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and the GCC. But:

• It’s an institutional service — asset managers, hedge funds, family offices.
• Minimums are effectively institutional (think a serious account and relationship, not a few thousand dollars), and pricing is negotiated commission / CSA (soft-dollar) rather than a retail rate card.
• A foreign individual will generally not get that full frontier list through EFG Hermes One. For those markets as a retail investor, use the local-broker routes on each country page.

What reviews say

I haven’t opened an account, so this is third-party sentiment — and the picture is strong on reputation, thin on granular retail reviews.

The reputation that matters most: EFG Hermes (under EFG Holding, itself EGX-listed) is a genuine blue-chip, well-regulated MENA institution — the top-ranked broker on ADX, DFM and Nasdaq Dubai and a leading EGX broker. On the “is this counterparty solid?” question it scores well — and unlike some regional platforms there are no legitimacy or regulatory red flags. That’s its real edge.

What user feedback says (limited):

• Praise — customer service is singled out (“best customer service ever”), plus the convenience of one app for local + global markets.
• Complaints — the recurring gripe is commission/pricing (“needs a lot of improvement on commission prices”); this is a full-service house, not a discount app. As with most EM broker apps, expect scattered app-stability/UX grumbles.
• There isn’t a large, clean body of 2025–2026 reviews for the app specifically — much of EFG’s standing is institutional rather than retail-reviewed.

Net. Consistent with this page: EFG Hermes is the solid, legitimate default for Egypt (and the UAE) — the trade-off is cost, not safety. Good for someone who wants a real regulated MENA broker and isn’t chasing rock-bottom commissions; confirm your per-market rate before trading.

Verdict

EFG Hermes is the heavyweight of MENA and frontier broking — but be clear-eyed about which door you’re walking through. As a foreign individual, EFG Hermes One is a genuinely accessible, no-minimum route into Egypt and the UAE, with the one catch that you must confirm commissions per market (there’s no public rate card). The celebrated frontier breadth is institutional — don’t expect to reach Nairobi, Lagos, Karachi, Dhaka or Hanoi through the retail app. Researched, not yet opened.

Sources

Public sources checked (June 2026):

• EFG Hermes One FAQ, open-account and brokerage-agreement pages (markets incl. Oman/Kuwait + US/Europe, minimums, documents, onboarding timeline, withdrawal fees): https://www.efghermesone.com · https://app.efghermesone.com/faq
• EFG Hermes Frontier / institutional brokerage materials