National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) plans to launch the Middle East's first exchange-traded fund to try to attract more international investors.
The fund, known as an ETF, will be listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) in two months, a senior NBAD official said.
It will be licensed by a leading global index provider and will track some of the Gulf's 50 biggest stocks, said Giyas Gokkent, NBAD's co-head of asset management and chief economist.
"We think there will be a lot of demand as exposure of international investors to this region is still behind the curve," Dr Gokkent said.
"This particular product will be novel as it will give investors access at one shop."
Investor appetite for ETFs has grown in the financial crisis as active fund management has suffered and investors reassess their exposure to equity markets.
Net inflows into exchange traded products (ETPs) totalled ?41 billion (Dh215.87bn) over the past 12 months, according to a report released yesterday by iShares, the world's largest provider of ETFs.
Holding assets such as stocks, an ETF trades at about the same price as the net value of its underlying assets over a trading day.
ETFs are traded widely in the US, Europe and Asia.
The ADX has been planning since last year to list ETFs to diversify its narrow product base.
But its plans were hampered by the financial crisis.
The launch of the NBAD fund issubject to regulatory approval, Dr Gokkent said.
NBAD, the UAE's second-biggest bank by assets, manages about US$1.5bn (Dh5.51bn).
Overall assets under management for European ETPs stand at ?137bn, representing a 28 per cent increase over the past year, according to iShares.
The strength of flows into regional funds reflects investor demand for broader based indexes while increased flows into emerging market ETPs reveal their confidence in their recovery prospects, said Nizam Hamid, the head of sales strategy at iShares Europe.
The ADX may yet have some competition in ETPs in the region, as Dr Gokkent said there were "a number of entities in other countries trying to play catch-up".
* with agencies
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Innotech Profile
Date started: 2013
Founder/CEO: Othman Al Mandhari
Based: Muscat, Oman
Sector: Additive manufacturing, 3D printing technologies
Size: 15 full-time employees
Stage: Seed stage and seeking Series A round of financing
Investors: Oman Technology Fund from 2017 to 2019, exited through an agreement with a new investor to secure new funding that it under negotiation right now.
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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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Porsche Macan T: The Specs
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General John Allen, President of the Brookings Institution research group, commended the role the UAE has played in the fight against terrorism and violent extremism.
He told a Globsec debate of the UAE’s "hugely outsized" role in the fight against Isis.
"It’s trite these days to say that any country punches above its weight, but in every possible way the Emirates did, both militarily, and very importantly, the UAE was extraordinarily helpful on getting to the issue of violent extremism," he said.
He also noted the impact that Hedayah, among others in the UAE, has played in addressing violent extremism.
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
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Sunday March 6, Oman v Namibia, ICC Academy
Tuesday March 8, UAE v Namibia, ICC Academy
Wednesday March 9, UAE v Oman, ICC Academy
Friday March 11, Oman v Namibia, Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Saturday March 12, UAE v Namibia, Sharjah Cricket Stadium
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