29 minute read
Heralding the New Global Wealth and Investment Hub
Debating an expansive range of topics and issues focused on the growth of wealth and investment services in the region, The MEA Finance Wealth & Investment Summit and Awards, held at the Park Hyatt Hotel, Dubai UAE on the 26th September 2022, welcomed some of the region’s leading personalities to this enthralling and lively series of discussions
The Middle East, one of the world’s hotbeds of wealth creation, has seen an acceleration in trends relating to succession planning, alternate investment vehicles, wealth preservation, digitisation in wealth management and growing interest in sustainable investing.
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The pandemic created some exceptional challenges for all industries and in wealth management and investment, it is driving pre-existing trends as wealth managers are changing the way they deliver advice and serve clients. The expansion of wealth globally coupled with the changes in
demographics, innovative technologies and environment and social behaviours is creating new customer segments.
Bain and Company projected in July that the wealth management industry, which combines asset management with financial planning and advice, will expand by 67% from $137 trillion in assets under management (AUM) in 2021 to nearly $230 trillion globally by 2030.
Growth is being driven by an increase in do-it-yourself (DIY) investors who are seeking assistance in turbulent markets, as wealth management is set to outpace asset management by an average of 2% every year until 2030.
MEA Finance hosted its Wealth
Management Summit & Awards
2022 on 27 September in Dubai and the exclusive annual forum attracted leading wealth managers and industry experts who discussed the new trends, opportunities and challenges facing the private banking and wealth management sectors in the region.
Wealth managers are being confronted with the task of balancing the traditional approach to risk management with the need to respond quickly to the global pandemic that has created massive changes to their operating environment.
As emerging segments grow, an increasing number of wealthy individuals consider environmental, social and governance (ESG) to be an important factor in investment decisions. To date, wealth managers’ primary focus has been developing and launching ESG products to satisfy the burgeoning demand for sustainable investments.
Family offices are an integral part of a high-end subset of wealth management business in the Middle East. Over the years, they have become increasingly important to the region’s entire financial services industry, not just because of the business potential inherent in their massive AUM, but as evidence of the region’s overall wealth management capabilities.
The mounting hopes of post-pandemic recovery in wealth management signal an imperative to prepare for the changes in technology, consumer needs and society that will shape the future of the wealth management ecosystem.
Succession & estate planning
Moderated by MEA Finance’s Nabilah Annuar, the panel on Developments
in Middle Eastern Succession and
Estate Planning highlighted how foundations, trusts or SPV mortgages are effective succession planning tools in the region.
The largest intergenerational transfer of wealth is taking place among the world’s wealthiest families with $8.6
trillion of global high net-worth wealth (HNW) expected to be transferred from one generation to another between now and 2029. Succession planning continues to be a challenge for wealthier families globally as research shows that not all are prepared for a smooth hand-over.
Navigating estate and succession planning is particularly problematic in the Middle East where large families are more common and many of these relatively younger businesses face succession issues for the first time.
Lombard Odier said in June that its Middle East Investment Survey that out of 300 established high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) in the Middle East, almost 90% think that their family business is set up for an efficient wealth transfer to the next generation but only 24% have a full estate plan in place.
Damien Morgan, Senior Wealth Planner, Private Banking at HSBC UAE, said that wealth transition and the incorporation of family governance are among the catalyst of change when it comes to wealth and succession planning in the region.
“There’s a high concentration of private wealth in the Middle East as well as large family businesses that are very important to local and
THERE’S A HIGH CONCENTRATION OF PRIVATE WEALTH IN THE MIDDLE EAST AS WELL AS LARGE FAMILY BUSINESSES THAT ARE VERY IMPORTANT TO LOCAL AND REGIONAL ECONOMIES WHICH HAD CREATED A LOT OF PENT-UP DEMAND FOR MORE INTERNATIONAL STRUCTURES SUCH AS TRUSTS AND FOUNDATIONS
– Damien Morgan, Senior Wealth Planner, Private Banking at HSBC UAE
regional economies which had created a lot of pent-up demand for more international structures such as trusts and foundations,” said Morgan. The introduction of the Trust and Foundations Law by the UAE in 2017 created an opportunity for local practitioners to provide “local structures for local assets,” he added.
The succession problems have been around for the last five years and are expected to remain a challenge in the coming decade. There has been an increase in the adoption of policies and procedures for succession by Middle East wealthier families, but some of the policies do not necessarily include key
documents such as family constitutions or conflict resolution mechanisms.
Tim Searle, Founder and Chairman at Globaleye weighed in saying that historically there’s been a dearth of talent in the UAE and HNW clients have to go abroad, either Switzerland, London or further afield to get the sort of succession and advisory they require.
“The complexity of these issues is getting greater and greater, not just because of succession problems, but of course, the regulatory environment in the Middle East and new tax regimes,” Searle said adding that there are notable changes as both the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) move to attract, not only the money that’s coming to the Gulf state but the necessary advisory that comes with it.
Leevyn Isabel Private Clients Director, Ocorian concurred with Damien Morgan while adding that motivation is also contributing to a change in the succession planning landscape in the Middle East. “It used to be only about estate planning, but now it’s about protecting assets and tax planning. We’ll have corporate tax next year and that will be an additional element for wealth managers to factor in when they do estate and succession planning,” Isabel added.
Given the outsized economic contribution of family-run businesses in the Middle East, strong family governance is critical for the region’s continued economic success. From a global perspective, Samir Raslan, Vice Chairman for Origination Citi Private Bank- EMEA said that as Middle Eastern families are investing globally, they’re exposing themselves to taxation—which a lot of people from this region are not familiar with or they don’t expect it.
Therefore, “the first discussion that we have with clients is to decide what is the best structure for them”—local or global.
Asked about the new solutions that are changing succession planning in the Middle East, Rahul Chopra, Head of Dubai, Senior Executive Officer & Managing Director at Charles Monat Associates noted that there has been a huge transformation in clients’ thought processes adding, “It’s not about growing wealth, but protecting wealth and think about the next generation.”
Chopra said that the regulatory landscape in developed countries has changed over the years and the shift is also happening in the UAE as well. Life insurance is one of the simplest and most inexpensive solutions to pass on wealth and it can be a good way to provide a single pot of liquidity to beneficiaries after the death of a family patriarch.
“Wealth managers are recognising the importance of liquidity planning that is attached to a strong succession and estate planning proposition. Hence, they use life insurance as one of the tools to be attached as an integral part of the overall succession planning proposition,” he said.
Generational wealth transfers are a relatively new phenomenon in much of the Middle East and understanding the interests, perspectives and motivations of the next generation can strengthen a succession planning strategy. Raslan highlighted that the founders of family wealth in the Middle East tend to find it difficult for them to trust and give up their assets to trust funds, but new generations are open to the idea of establishing trust companies.
Morgan weighed in saying younger generations have seen how family disputes have been very disruptive to businesses and they’re keen to push sort of a governance agenda. “Younger generations have a vested interest to see business legacy lasting into the future and having a comprehensive family governance tends helps to prevent disputes in the future,” he said.
Over the years, life insurance has emerged as a new asset class for planning your succession. It is one of the simplest and most inexpensive solutions to transfer wealth and it can be leveraged to provide a single pot of liquidity to beneficiaries in the event of the founder’s death. Chopra said that more clients in the Middle East are considering plugging life insurance into their overall structure in
succession planning. “Life insurance can be used to create equalisation between the estate, members of the family or the business partners,” he said.
Isabel gave a presentation on succession solutions in the UAE. He underscored the country’s milestone in putting in place tools to govern wealth transfer including trusts and foundations in the DIFC, ADGM and the Ras Al Khaimah International Corporate Centre. To ensure that wealth is preserved and that there is a smooth transition between generations, establishing family protocols to regulate succession and conflict resolution is critical.
Evolving ESG & philanthropy
The increasingly growing demand for sustainable investing from investors is driving some private banks and wealth management firms to develop sustainable investing strategies as public attention toward the global sustainability agenda is also rising.
Today, millennial investors and affluent youths are focused on investment solutions that support the UN Sustainable Development Goals, investments that meet ESG values and climate- and sustainability-focused initiatives such as low-carbon investments.
Meanwhile, the rapid creation of new wealth, priorities on sustainability and a greater awareness of how philanthropy can create a positive impact postpandemic are reinventing traditional approaches to giving.
The discussion on Wealth and
Society - Evolving ESG & Philanthropy
was moderated by Dr Bhaskar Dasgupta, Independent Board Director, Senior Advisor - Sheikh Hamdan Bin Ahmad Al Makhtoum Private Office. Dasgupta noted that it’s interesting to see how wealthy families and family-owned family businesses in the Middle East are factoring in both the ESG and philanthropic practices in their portfolios.
Asked about the latest market trends in wealth and society, An Kelles, Director at Jersey Finance in GCC said that over the last five years it used to be the ‘S’, the social work, then the E and lately the G is also coming up. “We’ve seen a generational shift as more and more nextgeneration clients think about the impact of their investments. They’re more handson and I can say the new generation is more ESG minded in their philanthropy,” Kelles said.
From a religious perspective, Christofer Langner, the Head of Investment Strategy Private Banking Group at First Abu Dhabi Bank highlighted that because of the religious background of the Middle East region, philanthropy plays a big part while the US is the reigning champion of philanthropy because of the tax incentive associated with it.
“Families who do philanthropy in the Middle East do it because of their religious beliefs. Kareem generosity is a big part of Islamic belief. And it’s very present in how HNWIs distribute their wealth, share and invest in philanthropic endeavours,” said Langner.
Faisal Hasan (CFA), CIO & Head of Asset Management at Al Mal Capital, UAE said that ESG and philanthropy ventures have become more mainstream and institutionalised. “We are seeing kind of a social disruption, where previously, 5% of wealthy families intended to give to philanthropy annually, but that has now changed to 95%,” Hasan said adding that HNWIs and families in the region are considering harnessing their wealth using the ESG, though the topic is still vaguely understood by many people.
Mario Al-Jebouri, the Head of the Dubai Representative Office at Banque Cantonale de Genève, said that the factors that tend to drive individuals to philanthropic activities are different from the ones in the corporate world. He also noted that HNWIs in different geographic locations such as the US, Asia and Europe tend to donate to different causes including healthcare, education and arts and culture.
“This is definitely indicative of the older generation in terms of their philanthropic
investments or donations, purely because they believe, obviously philanthropy is doing good, but now ESG is philanthropy doing good, plus making profit,” said Al-Jebouri.
However, the new generation of HNWIs, millennials and Gen Z, are focusing on impactful philanthropical donations, which not only concern them as individuals but encompass issues of global concern such as the environment, climate change, investing in innovative technologies and new resources. Al-Jebouri said that the new generation typically tends to invest directly in companies, rather than making
– Christofer Langner, the Head of Investment Strategy, Private Banking Group at First Abu Dhabi Bank
donations to foundations and various other investment vehicles—they want to see the impact their investments or donations are making in society, country or at a global scale.
From a Southeast Asian perspective, Vivek Gehani, the Head of Global South Asia & Middle East at the Bank of Singapore highlighted that there is a big shift between the new generation and the old generation saying, “the new generation is very focused on environment and sustainability.”
“They’re, from young age onwards, focused on the impact of their donations and investments on the environment. And as the millennials and the Gen Z’s are inheriting wealth from older generations, they’re more focused on ESG,” said Gehani.
Meanwhile, on the older generation the G side of ESG, governance, is starting to become very important with familyowned companies that are well governed and have high ESG scores tending to outperform, driven by lower drawdowns and less systemic risks.
The moderator acknowledged that there was consensus among the panellists that there is a substantial shift and increase in the investments that are being made. Dasgupta said that new structures are starting to come up and a lot of impact investment and venture capital funds are coming up that have a thesis that the only thing that they are going to invest in would be impacted investments.
“Globally, you’re starting to see people giving away their family businesses to be run by a trust. And their perspective is not so much as profit maximisation or stakeholder wealth generation, but also consider ESG as a major factor,” he added.
From a philanthropic perspective, Gehani said that several different options are emerging including clients who establish businesses and invest in businesses where all profits are channelled towards ESG initiatives. Meanwhile, other wealthy families in the Middle East are establishing discretionary mandate that invests primarily in ESG initiatives that are backed by the MSCI ratings.
Al-Jebouri noted that several HNWIs are investing directly into impact investment opportunities saying, “the separation between philanthropy and profit no longer exists.” Drawing on ESG and philanthropy’s emotional connect, wealthy families are investing or giving to something which has a social cause or sustainability.
Giving the example of Patagonia, Langner said that the company’s founder Yvon Chouinard and his family relinquished ownership of the 49-yearold firm and transferred it to trusts and nonprofit organisations in September while pledging to redirect future profits toward fighting climate change. The World Economic Forum (WEF) said in January that HNWIs and wealthy families are uniquely positioned to leverage private capital to drive growth in the ESG sector by supporting long-term societal goals and ambitions.
Wealthy individuals and family offices are ideally suited to the kind of approach that the investment theme requires owing to the group’s large pools of capital and multi-generational objectives that support a long-term strategy.
Safe-haven assets
The Safe Haven Investments - Near &
Mid-term Opportunities for Portfolio
Enhancement panel was once again moderated by Dr Bhaskar Dasgupta who chronicled the turbulent economic conditions of the last 24 months including the crypto crash, runway inflation and continued interest rate hikes by global central banks in lockstep with the US Federal Reserve (Fed).
Anita Gupta, the Head of Equity Strategy, CIO Office at Emirates NBD said that there has been an increased sell-off of all asset classes in 2022. “A safe haven is an investment that’s going to give you returns through any economic cycle,” Gupta said while posing, “When you look at investments today, you have regions, you have sectors, you have asset classes, you have currencies, you have jurisdictions. What is going to perform in this high inflationary environment?
Gupta said what is super interesting this year is that there is not one single investment or asset class that has escaped the higher rate regime while highlighting that gold has not gone up though the commodity is a safe-haven asset.
The global economy has had three busts in the last 25 years—the dotcom bust in 2000, the 2008 financial crisis, the economic impact of the pandemic in the last two years and fixed income selling off in 2022.
Deepak Mehra, Head of Investments at Commercial Bank of Dubai, highlighted that there is no safe haven adding that the term could actually be a misnomer or probably doesn’t exist. “Now what we all know in wealth management 101 is that your safe-haven asset is something that is aligned with your risk profile,” he said.
Mehra concurred with Gupta’s explanation that if an investor had a diversified portfolio that is aligned with their risk profile and risk appetite over the last 25 years, they could sit through it and still make very good returns.
Building on Mehra, Dr. Niels Zilkens, Lead Market Head Arabian Gulf & NRI at UBS Global Wealth Management said, “safe haven investments is all about preservation of wealth for us as an advisor to our clients.”
“At the end of the day, instead of just trying the right asset class such as gold and real estate, we tried to find a format or a framework for our clients to avoid behavioural mistakes,” Zilkens said adding that there are a lot of losses in portfolios based on over leveraging this year.
George Hojeige, the Chief Executive Officer at Virtuzone also concurred with Mehra that there is no such thing as a safe haven investment. Asked about the shift in investment proportion in different asset classes such as real estate, gold and corporate bonds, Hojeige said that in periods of unstable economic conditions investors tend to shy away from traditional investments such as stock market and real estate, but other emerging investment trends include citizenship by investment.
From an inflationary perspective, Zilkens said that inflation is likely here to stay for a couple of months while noting that several investors have been surprised about how effective and how strong the Fed is fighting inflation. “We believe that the Fed will be successful in fighting inflation over the next couple of months and it will come down in Q1 2023 which will help equity markets. Until then, equity markets will most likely remain volatile,” he said.
Mehra agreed with Zilkens that consumer price inflation (CPI) needs more time to cool off because it is linked to housing—which is around 34% of the core CPI. Overall, inflation has peaked
and is being fuelled in part by a broadbased economic slowdown, a plunge in manufacturing and slowing retail sales. Mehra said that his advice to clients is for them to hold on to their equity portfolios, adding, “more visibility should be there in the next three to six months.”
Gupta weighed in saying her approach to inflation is from two angles—the demand side- and supply chain constraints-driven inflations. She also noted that inflation is being driven by different factors across regions e.g food inflation in Sri Lanka, India and some parts of Africa as well as Turkey, which has a 70% inflation rate. However, for an investor in the UAE, the US or the UK a big mitigator of inflation is income. “Our advice to clients in the current environment is that do not be
over-leveraged. Higher rates are there to stay for some time,” Gupta said. “Stay invested, whether it is your fixed income portfolio or equity portfolio.”
– Anita Gupta, the Head of Equity Strategy, CIO Office at Emirates NBD
MENA family offices
Moderated by Ismael Hajjar, Partner, Entrepreneurial Private Business, Family Office Services at PwC Middle East, the
Growth of Family Office in the Middle
East discussed the growth of family offices in the region.
The growth is being driven in part by the need for family enterprise structures that have a corporate setup to manage wealth, the growth in the number of wealthier families relocating to the UAE and the transfer of vast wealth between generations.
Family office businesses in the Middle East make up a sizeable proportion of the region’s non-oil economy and in these challenging times, the need for adaptability and action to ensure that potential isn’t wasted, and the future is secured has never been paramount.
Hajjar said that it doesn’t come as a surprise that more family offices are being established in the Middle East to serve the region’s wealthy families or families from the rest of the world who are relocating to the UAE. He asked the panellists what is a typical family office client and how do you support family offices.
Shadi AlNasr, the Principal of Global Family Office at the Bank of New York Mellon noted that his bank’s typical family office clients are not family offices. “If a family office client is acting or willing to behave like an institution that’s when my role kicks in to assist them to harness the same institutional infrastructure and the global custody platform used by sovereign funds, central banks and governments to connect them to the financial ecosystem,” AlNasr said.
Farzad Billimoria, Head of Private Banking at HSBC UAE agreed with AlNasr that there is no typical family office adding, “each family office for us is like a snowflake falling, each one is different than the other. Each one has a typical need, and a need which is very different to the other family offices.”
Billimoria noted that there are different types of family offices including the embedded family office, the multifamily office, the single-family office and the virtual family office—all these are different in their approach and needs.
Meanwhile, Biju Thomas Senior Director, Private Banking at Mashreq said that the commercial bank has been engaged with its family business for quite some time, adding “it’s only natural that we see family office business as an extension.” Thomas said that there has been a lot of movement in the industry as there is an increase in the number of global family offices that are relocating to the UAE.
Echoing Billimoria’s words, Arjun Mittal, the Founder of Abbey Road Investment Group said that there is no typical family office, every family has its own needs and its requirements. “There is a massive transfer of generational wealth going on as baby boomers are slowly retiring and the new generation is coming through,” Mittal said while highlighting that the multifamily office is becoming an important vehicle to implement the generational change and succession plan.
Hajjar debunked popular misconceptions about family offices saying they do not only serve to manage investments but also to contribute to a successful transfer of generational wealth. There has been an increase in family offices being set up by the Middle East’s merchant and royal families.
Billimoria attributed the increase in family offices to the explosion of wealth that is being witnessed in the region. “With the explosion of wealth, the needs for those clients are evolving and changing firstly the investment needs, succession requirements and personal desires,” he added.
– Arjun Mittal, Founder and CIO, Abbey Road Investments Group
On how to set up a new family office, AlNasr said that as Mittal and Billimoria have highlighted that there is no typical family office, “there’s no typical process but the ideal way of structuring a family office should involve a lot of planning.”
Asked whether it is important to professionalise family offices, Thomas said that for generations the Middle East and Asia have not been great in terms of transparency, disclosure and governance but that changed in the last ten years when financial institutions started attracting billions of dollars in misgovernance disclosures fines. From a family office perspective, Thomas said it is important that family offices have proper governance and accounting standards in place if they plan to invest globally.
Hajjar said that one other way to achieve more disclosure or incentivize family businesses is through public listings on local stock markets. Given the sheer size of Middle East family offices, whose size is on average double that of their UK and US counterparts, their businesses need to grow by double digits for future generations to maintain the wealth and the same standard of living, which pose a colossal challenge for them.
Investment alternatives
A survey by US consultancy firm Cerulli Associates in July showed that more financial advisors looking to further diversify their clients are turning to alternative investments after battling downturns in the stock and bond markets over the past two years.
Alternative investments are supplemental strategies to traditional long-only positions in stocks, bonds and cash and include investments in hedge funds, private capital, natural resources, real estate and infrastructure.
The investment alternatives panel was moderated by Christofer Langner, the Head of Investment Strategy, Private Banking Group at First Abu Dhabi Bank. The panel explored whether alternative investment options such as in the metaverse, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), tokenisation and crypto assets can gain prominence as the global economy is teetering on the brink of a recession.
Langner opened the panel by noting that the gamut that banks have in the UAE is unfortunately and it’s during times like
these that “we remember how important it is to have these alternative investments.” He posed a question to the panellists, “how do you see alternative investments within this world that we’re living of big change?”
Omar Al-Gharabally, the Chief Investment Officer at Greenstone Equity Partners said that the global economy is going through significant changes. Al-Gharabally said he is less worried about how the world would change over the next 10 years but more worried about the changes over the next six months.
Mubashar Ayoob, the Head of Wealth Management – Gulf at Deutsche Bank,
– Farzad Billimoria, the Head of Private Banking at HSBC UAE
noted that the last 40 years, the period from 1980 to 2020, is probably the best years that investors have experienced in the history of financial markets. However, high inflation, interest rates, the war in Europe, the energy crisis and climate change will make the investment landscape more challenging going forward.
On a positive note, Haitham Juma, Unit Head of Investment Solutions at the National Bank of Fujairah agreed that this year has been quite challenging for most asset classes. “However, though we’re talking about high inflation and soaring yields this shouldn’t be the main driver or the main component of us building an investment strategy,” he said.
Hazem Fouad, the Head of Investments at Mashreq said that looking back over the past 100 years, a 60- or 40-year-old portfolio is in the second worst year and alternative investments will play an even more important role as we go forward. The low correlation which alternative investments bring to traditional assets and the way they enhance portfolio returns due to the risk and return profile boost portfolio diversification, said Fouad.
The recent surge in alternative investments is seen as the beginning of a new wave of growth. “The next six months probably are significant from a short to medium-term perspective. However, these difficult times lead investors to consider new alternatives investments and technology will play a bigger role in this space,” Devesh Mamtani, the Chief Market Strategist at Century Financial said. European equities are at their lowest in comparison to their US counterparts and a lot has happened in terms of the global economy and this will drive a surge in alternate investments, said Mamtani.
Mittal agreed with other panellists, but he noted that the world is in a different demographic profile and potentially very different economic profile from 100 years ago. “It’s a rapidly changing dynamic environment and I don’t think anyone has the answers. But if I can try to be positive, the global economy is worth around $100 trillion to cater to a population of 7.5 billion people. There’s got to be opportunities,” added Mittal.
Alternative investments typically have higher fees than traditional investments and capitalise on markets in turmoil. However, investors should look out for potential risks before investing including loss of a substantial portion of the investment, lack of liquidity, volatility of returns as well as restrictions on
– Devesh Mamtani, the Chief Market Strategist at Century Financial
transferring interests and potential lack of diversification—which results in even higher risk due to concentration of trading authority when a single advisor is utilised.
Brett King, Futurist, Bestselling Author and Founder of Moven gave a presentation titled The Future of Smart Economies, AI, Climate and Investment. King highlighted the seismic changes that are going to shape the future of the wealth management and investment sector over the next 20 to 30 years ranging from changes in regulations to technological innovations and clients’ expectations and demands.
Digital transformation
The global wealth management industry is evolving, and the Middle East market is no exception. The outbreak of the pandemic accelerated pre-existing trends in wealth management including the digitalisation of the sector which changed the way wealth managers deliver advice and serve their clients.
“The client experience has been the prompt for the digital transformation journey of wealth management companies,” said Deloitte.
The discussion on the Digitisation of Wealth Management was anchored by Brett King. The panel explored whether new technological innovations in the financial service sector can deliver tailored services and advisory skills that HNWIs receive from premium finance services providers.
The growth of “automated wealth managers” or Robo-advisors is revolutionising wealth management with unprecedented force. Alex Gemici, the Chief Executive Officer of Greenstone Equity Partners said that digitalisation is creating tremendous opportunities to disrupt the banking sector throughout the entire chain.
Neale Croutear-Foy, the Chief Technology Officer at Securrency Capital weighed in saying wealth management is being disrupted by digitalisation in several different ways than other divisions of the financial services industry. “In terms of how the technology is being utilised in the market, it’s interesting how Roboadvisors are coming along in the middle segment of the marketplace and one of the things we can see from these types of organisations is that they’re becoming quite niche and focused in terms of how to appeal to a specific client base,” Croutear-Foy said.
In terms of attracting the right talent and how it matches an institution’s digital capabilities, Ayesha Abbas, the Head of Consumer, Private and Business Banking (CPBB) at Standard Chartered Bank UAE said that despite the UAE being an overbanked market with over 50 banks, the hunt for talent always remains. The emerging talent and the newer generations are quite akin to the digitisation and its importance within the conventional banking space, she added.
From a design and experience perspective, Devid Jegerson, the Head of Customer Experience and Platform Development at the National Bank of Fujairah said the banking sector is approaching the market differently while segmenting the market in different layers to offer different investments in a way that appeals to our broad-base customer segments.
Abbas said that incumbent banks have moved away from the traditional client segmentation of asset under management (AUM) and value to sophistication and preference adding, “if I am a millennial and I prefer to do it myself, then the client journey is built in a way that it’s going to guide me in that direction.”
Once a laggard in the adoption of technology, wealth management is accelerating digitalisation, deploying artificial intelligence (AI), Big Data, robotics and other innovative technologies to enhance client’s experience and trust—which is central to the industry’s relationships.
Bankers and technology professionals who attended the MEA Finance wealth summit agreed that the wealth management sector in the Middle East is expanding and for wealth managers to generate outsized growth in the future, they need to create a more approachable value proposition for younger investors with fewer liquid assets than older generations.
Organised by:
Welcome to this issue’s coverage of our recent MEA Finance Wealth & Investment Awards, held and proudly presented on the 27th of September this year, at the Park Hyatt Hotel, Dubai where we recognised achievement, innovation, service and excellence in the wealth and investment markets in the Middle East.
My warmest congratulations to all the winners and sincere thanks to all of you who actively supported and participated in this year’s awards and summit events.
On this occasion we hosted the brightest and the best in the sector and fittingly celebrated the hard work and innovative services provided by companies and individuals in the increasingly competitive regional wealth management and investment markets.
Awards for outstanding performance are an important constituent part of the industry ecosystem, serving not only to provide recognition for admirable achievement and smart innovations, but in so doing, also helping move our services and skills onward to higher levels, improve client experiences and build rightful prestige for the region we inhabit.
We awarded winners across 28 categories that highlight some of the best in what makes the markets of our region a growingly important centre for the fostering and protection of wealth and investment.
At MEA Finance Magazine, we will continue to award outstanding institutions and companies that lead the industry forward.
Congratulations again on all your accomplishments; we are keen to see what you will bring in the business in the coming year.
Nap Estampador
Group Commercial Director, MEA Finance
