Financial advisers linked to the failed LM Investment Management funds, in which many expats in the Middle East and Asia lost money, have criticised the rising bills from insolvency practitioners and the slow pace of Australian regulators in dealing with the case.
Saudi Arabia has reportedly withdrawn tens of billions of dollars from global asset management firms in response to the ongoing slump in oil price and the recent volatility in world equity markets.
Guernsey Finance, the body which promotes the island’s finance industry internationally, has appointed its first Middle East representative.
A big change in investor behaviour among Middle East expats has occurred over the last year, says Andrew Downing, regional sales manager of Invesco Asset Management, in a video interview.
Western expatriates are staying longer in the Middle East and, while the use of long-term life products still dominates the market, the length of the contract is falling and more money is flowing into mutual fund platforms, Invesco said.
The collapse in oil prices and volatility in the emerging markets induced by China’s slowdown has hurt stocks in the Middle East but has not knocked the region’s major equity markets off their positive trajectory, said Amundi fund manager Remy Marcel.
Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management, part of the Deutsche Bank Group, has hired long-standing Middle East expert Albert Trinkl to develop the bank’s business and asset management client base in the region.
Specialist wealth management software provider, Profile Software, has announced plans to expand across the Middle East following good demand for its IMSplus platform.
With Saudi Arabia now open to foreign investment, fund manager Yong Wei Lee, who runs the Emirates MENA Top Companies Fund, is looking to capitalise on the region’s strong potential.
With the Middle East now one of Invesco’s largest marketplaces globally, Nick Tolchard, managing director of international development for the asset manager, charts this unprecedented success story.
The UAE government has given insurance companies operating in the Emirates an extra year, beginning 28 August, to meet the regulatory requirement which forbids combining persons’ insurance and fund accumulation operations with property and liability insurance operations.
Ryan Lemand, the senior economic adviser and head of risk management for the Emirates Securities & Commodities Authority (ESCA), has resigned, according to sources in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
