Like it did for most businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic, technology came to the rescue of Pictet Group, which oversees 609 billion Swiss Francs ($670bn) of assets.
Though Switzerland's biggest privately owned bank harnessed the latest technologies to stay in touch with customers during the health crisis, it prefers to service clients the conventional way with face-to-face meetings, and is investing in its headcount in the Middle East, Daniel Savary, its head of wealth management in the Middle East and Africa told The National.
“We are still in a business where personal interaction remains very crucial,” Mr Savary, who is also a member of executive board of Pictet Wealth Management, said. “It [the technology] is not replacing … the physical interaction. The client proximity is very important.”
The crisis, he said, has shown that digitalisation in the financial services industry is at an advanced stage and institutions can adapt when they have to. Technology, has proven to be time efficient and even when the health crisis is over, the sector will continue to invest in it.
“Now, is it [going to be] used with the same intensity as borders are opening again ... I doubt [it],” he said. “As long as there is no other solution, and as long as we cannot travel, there are restrictions and quarantine measures”, technology will remain a vital tool for staying in touch with the firm’s clients, he added.
Pictet, which has been advising affluent and institutional clients in the Middle East and Africa out of Geneva and Zurich with a representative office in Dubai for more than two decades, is looking to hire top talent to serve the region that has seen a double-digit growth in business in recent years.
“We want to continue selectively hiring senior people and of course grow our asset base … not only organically through existing clients, but also by converting our prospective pipeline into new relationships,” Mr Savary said.
Clients in the Middle East represent “a substantial part,” of its total assets under management he said, declining to give further details.
Pictet’s growth ambitions are focused on the hydrocarbon-rich GCC states and the Levant, a region which has seen a significant rise in the number of ultra-wealthy.
The number of ultra-high-net-worth individuals in the Middle East, those with a net worth of over $30 million, is projected to increase 24.6 per cent in the next five years and the region will retain its position of the world's fourth-largest wealth hub, according to a Knight Frank.
The global population of the ultra-wealthy is forecast to rise 27 per cent over the same period to almost 663,483 from 513,244 in 2019. Asia is likely to see the largest rise in the number of UHNWIs with growth of 39 per cent.
Pictet has seen double-digit growth in its client base recently and the company is open to portfolio acquisitions from other asset managers on a case-by-case basis despite not completing one in the past, Mr Savary said. This may further boost its Middle Eastern portfolio, he added.
On the investment front Pictet sees rising appetite for riskier assets, driven by prospects of a faster economic recovery and quick rollout of vaccine programmes in some of these markets.
“What we have realised is that investors have been rushing back to rather risky assets,” as low interest rates, abundant liquidity, fiscal stimulus and low inflation are all contributing to renewed confidence, Mr Savary said.
"For me, emerging markets will outperform this year as global recovery continues,” he said.
Investors favour cyclical equities in emerging markets and the industrial sector. Healthcare, infrastructure and companies with green recovery themes are also on the radar of investors, Mr Savary said.
The%20specs
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Fixtures and results:
Wed, Aug 29:
- Malaysia bt Hong Kong by 3 wickets
- Oman bt Nepal by 7 wickets
- UAE bt Singapore by 215 runs
Thu, Aug 30: UAE v Nepal; Hong Kong v Singapore; Malaysia v Oman
Sat, Sep 1: UAE v Hong Kong; Oman v Singapore; Malaysia v Nepal
Sun, Sep 2: Hong Kong v Oman; Malaysia v UAE; Nepal v Singapore
Tue, Sep 4: Malaysia v Singapore; UAE v Oman; Nepal v Hong Kong
Thu, Sep 6: Final
TO A LAND UNKNOWN
Director: Mahdi Fleifel
Starring: Mahmoud Bakri, Aram Sabbah, Mohammad Alsurafa
Rating: 4.5/5
Company%20profile
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Three tips from La Perle's performers
1 The kind of water athletes drink is important. Gwilym Hooson, a 28-year-old British performer who is currently recovering from knee surgery, found that out when the company was still in Studio City, training for 12 hours a day. “The physio team was like: ‘Why is everyone getting cramps?’ And then they realised we had to add salt and sugar to the water,” he says.
2 A little chocolate is a good thing. “It’s emergency energy,” says Craig Paul Smith, La Perle’s head coach and former Cirque du Soleil performer, gesturing to an almost-empty open box of mini chocolate bars on his desk backstage.
3 Take chances, says Young, who has worked all over the world, including most recently at Dragone’s show in China. “Every time we go out of our comfort zone, we learn a lot about ourselves,” she says.
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Scotland v Ireland:
Scotland (15-1): Stuart Hogg; Tommy Seymour, Huw Jones, Sam Johnson, Sean Maitland; Finn Russell, Greig Laidlaw (capt); Josh Strauss, James Ritchie, Ryan Wilson; Jonny Gray, Grant Gilchrist; Simon Berghan, Stuart McInally, Allan Dell
Replacements: Fraser Brown, Jamie Bhatti, D'arcy Rae, Ben Toolis, Rob Harley, Ali Price, Pete Horne, Blair Kinghorn
Coach: Gregor Townsend (SCO)
Ireland (15-1): Rob Kearney; Keith Earls, Chris Farrell, Bundee Aki, Jacob Stockdale; Jonathan Sexton, Conor Murray; Jack Conan, Sean O'Brien, Peter O'Mahony; James Ryan, Quinn Roux; Tadhg Furlong, Rory Best (capt), Cian Healy
Replacements: Sean Cronin, Dave Kilcoyne, Andrew Porter, Ultan Dillane, Josh van der Flier, John Cooney, Joey Carbery, Jordan Larmour
Coach: Joe Schmidt (NZL)
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
Zakat definitions
Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.
Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.
Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.
Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.
THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Have you been targeted?
Tuan Phan of SimplyFI.org lists five signs you have been mis-sold to:
1. Your pension fund has been placed inside an offshore insurance wrapper with a hefty upfront commission.
2. The money has been transferred into a structured note. These products have high upfront, recurring commission and should never be in a pension account.
3. You have also been sold investment funds with an upfront initial charge of around 5 per cent. ETFs, for example, have no upfront charges.
4. The adviser charges a 1 per cent charge for managing your assets. They are being paid for doing nothing. They have already claimed massive amounts in hidden upfront commission.
5. Total annual management cost for your pension account is 2 per cent or more, including platform, underlying fund and advice charges.
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo
Power: 240hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 390Nm at 3,000rpm
Transmission: eight-speed auto
Price: from Dh122,745
On sale: now
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Museum of the Future in numbers
- 78 metres is the height of the museum
- 30,000 square metres is its total area
- 17,000 square metres is the length of the stainless steel facade
- 14 kilometres is the length of LED lights used on the facade
- 1,024 individual pieces make up the exterior
- 7 floors in all, with one for administrative offices
- 2,400 diagonally intersecting steel members frame the torus shape
- 100 species of trees and plants dot the gardens
- Dh145 is the price of a ticket
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
