The number of professionals seeking bespoke banking services is expected to grow in the Middle East this year, says a senior Barclays banker. Mark Elliot, a regional director of sales at Barclays, said growth in this segment in the Middle East was 8 per cent last year, the second-fastest growth rate in the world after Asia.
"What's terribly important from Barclays's perspective is developing our offerings in the mass-affluent segment so that we can participate in that fast-growing segment of the market." Definitions of the "mass affluent" label vary, with Barclays classifying the segment as anyone with more than US$9,000 (Dh35,000) worth of savings available to invest, although some consultants apply the term to customers with more than $1 million available.
Mr Elliot's outlook was supported at the MEED Middle East Retail Banking Conference in Abu Dhabi yesterday by other delegates who said they were devising ways to chase this lucrative market. Philip King, the head of retail banking at International Bank of Qatar, said: "If you don't do [wealth-management banking] in the right way, people like HSBC and Barclays Bank that have been in it for years are going to severely hurt your ability to succeed there."
Consultants said the recession had offered local banks a rare opportunity to break into this market. Sven-Olaf Vathje, the managing director of the Boston Consulting Group in Abu Dhabi, sees opportunities in the present difficult climate. "Many high-net-worth individuals from the Gulf region have not been satisfied with the performance of their wealth managers during the financial crisis," Mr Vathje said."They expected that their wealth managers - mostly from the traditional European locations - would protect their portfolios from market losses.
"While the traditional wealth managers have typically not lost mandates during the crisis, many of them have seen the inflow of fresh money dry up. Winners from the crisis are boutique wealth managers, as well as providers of alternative investment services and products. "Overseas banks still dominate the classical wealth management space. Given the long-term track record that many Swiss or British banks have in the field of wealth management, any shifts in market share will only happen in the longer run," Mr Vathje said.
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
- The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
- The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
- The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
- The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
- The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg