WEALTH MANAGEMENT & PRIVATE BANKING
Well Placed Confidence Mubashar Ayoob Head of Wealth Management for the Gulf region at Deutsche Bank clearly describes solidity, depth and sophistication in the regional wealth management market, which is set decisively on a growth path
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he demographics and demand exist, but are all the services in place to support a mature private banking and wealth management sector in the region?
I believe clients have access to a strong repertoire of top-class wealth management services regionally. At Deutsche Bank we recognize how important it is to offer highly sophisticated potential solutions to support our clients across all asset classes. Many of our clients have long-standing relationships with us and we have been able to support them through various stages of their wealth-cycle. Importantly, we are able to advise clients on both the asset and liability side of their balance sheet and this is in my opinion a key differentiator. Furthermore, in addition to our investment solutions, many clients come to us because of our expertise on the lending side. Our clients are sophisticated and expect a best-inclass holistic approach to address their wealth management needs.
Have events in the past two years affected the demand for optionality in client’s portfolios? There has certainly been significant
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demand from our clients for optionality in recent years. Derivatives and specifically options have become a great tool for potentially preserving and protecting our clients’ portfolios. We use them extensively. As a concrete example, we offer a Risk Return Engineering (RRE) approach as a further risk control tool, which allows the investor not only to stay invested and protect their portfolios from sharp declines, but also to take the extra risk needed to generate sustainable and above-average returns in the current low-yield environment. Additional risk overlays and further risk controls will all play an important part in portfolios. Effective risk management of portfolios needs to be complemented by longer-term considerations of portfolio aims and composition. This is an important time to focus on strategic asset allocation as employing market timing in complex processes of change, in my opinion, will not be enough. Hence, a way to
Mubashar Ayoob, Head of Wealth Management, Gulf region, Deutsche Bank
Banking and Finance news in the MEA market
potentially reduce risk could be to use options with a sophisticated source of long-term returns.
How frequently do clients ask you to factor ESG considerations into their investments? This is a topic that more and more clients are looking into and expressing not only interest but a real demand for. ESG considerations have become mainstream as a further dimension to traditional financial statement analysis and increasingly central to the investment universe. One of our ten longterm investment themes is ESG and we highlight four interesting long-term ESG sub-themes (blue economy, resource stewardship, water, and green hydrogen). Incorporating ESG should also allow for
