Mashreq Bank's head of wealth management Ishrat Kiyani said the Dubai-based lender is beefing up its mutual fund range and portfolio solutions as clients increasingly invest excess funds through local banks and financial services firms.
"We are seeing a new development in the wealth management sector," Mr Kiyani told The National. "A few years ago, a lot of our clients' money was being moved overseas but now the tendency is to invest that money onshore."
The bank doubled the number of mutual funds it offers clients to 80 last year and will soon increase them to 150, he said. It also introduced tailored portfolios for different risk appetites. The moves come after the bank's assets under management had double digit growth last year amid buoyant markets and an increase in subscriptions.
"Banks are waking up to the fact that this is a very profitable business for them and therefore more and more banks are vying foe a share of the pie and expanding their local presence," said Mr Kiyani.
The executive said that due to increased competition in the wealth management space in the UAE, the number of investment opportunities was rising with products available becoming more sophisticated. These include bond funds that increase the yield they pay out by borrowing money to enhance the return of the investment, he said.
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The UAE has been increasing its attractiveness as an onshore hub for private banking to compete with other more developed arenas such as Switzerland and Singapore. As a result, private banks have been making a beeline to Dubai to set up shop. Over 60 private banks and asset managers are based in the emirate to service the wide region.
Local banks have also been building up their wealth management divisions to reap more profits from non-interest income as they look to diversify their sources of revenues away from loans amid one of the longest stretches of low interest rates on record. Over the past two and half years, Mashreq has doubled the number of its relationship managers to 70 and may add more this year, the executive said. That comes as the bank overall expects a reduction in headcount due to more digitisation.
"Over the past decade, this region has earned its status as a global financial hub," Mr Kiyani said. "Also the growth opportunities for wealth management in the GCC are immense. Over the past 10 years, there has been a huge boom in oil prices that has generated wealth not only for individuals but for governments in terms of sovereign wealth funds.
"Wealth management is an integral part of that and that's an area that many banks are concentrating on because they feel they can make more income from that. That's been our case too, we've been driving up our wealth business and its paid good dividends in the past two years for us. So that's the emphasis for 2018 for us as well," Mr Kiyani said.
And even though there are a number of geopolitical headwinds this year, there are also a number of catalysts for economic growth for in the region that include Saudi Arabia's economic transformation plan and infrastructure projects undertaken Dubai's Expo2020, he said.
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
The specs
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Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
The 10 Questions
- Is there a God?
- How did it all begin?
- What is inside a black hole?
- Can we predict the future?
- Is time travel possible?
- Will we survive on Earth?
- Is there other intelligent life in the universe?
- Should we colonise space?
- Will artificial intelligence outsmart us?
- How do we shape the future?
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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
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
What is graphene?
Graphene is extracted from graphite and is made up of pure carbon.
It is 200 times more resistant than steel and five times lighter than aluminum.
It conducts electricity better than any other material at room temperature.
It is thought that graphene could boost the useful life of batteries by 10 per cent.
Graphene can also detect cancer cells in the early stages of the disease.
The material was first discovered when Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov were 'playing' with graphite at the University of Manchester in 2004.
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The specs
Engine: 77.4kW all-wheel-drive dual motor
Power: 320bhp
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
