Multi-asset investing is a holistic approach to investment that balances risk with clients’ profiles. For banks and financial advisers, multi-asset investing has the potential to provide a simple, yet sophisticated solution for retail-level and affluent investors.
Regulatory change, whether from growing enforcement of existing rules or the emergence of new ones, had a major impact on international life companies and financial advisory businesses in the Gulf during 2015.
The Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) Regulatory Authority has introduced a new set of Islamic banking regulations and a revised set of its Conduct of Business rules to boost the Gulf nation’s appeal to financial businesses and investors.
The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) has censured investment banking advisory firm MAS ClearSight and directed it to pay compensation of $3.2m (£2.1m, AED12m) to 20 investors for contravening the DFSA’s law and rules.
Healthcare and education will be excluded from a planned Gulf-wide value added tax (VAT) scheme, which the Middle East region’s finance ministers have agreed on to shore up revenues in the wake of the recent sharp fall in oil prices.
Mohieddine Kronfol, chief investment officer of global sukuk at Franklin Templeton Investments, says the underlying fixed-income story in the Middle East and North Africa is an exciting one that will run and run.
Greg Bennett, fund manager at Argonaut Capital, gives his view on the dynamics behind the current oil price.
The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) has issued a consultation paper on the insurance sector in a bid to clarify and update the regulatory regime.
Zurich International Life’s head of market management MEA, Walter Jopp, sees huge growth potential in the protection market, especially the non-resident Indian (NRI) segment.
Specialist long-term savings provider Hansard Global has reported a surging annual uplift in new business for the first quarter of the financial year with the Middle East and Africa responsible for more than 300%.
Pension liberation scammers are increasingly targeting expatriates in Qatar, warned independent financial advice giant, deVere.
The expanding middle classes of the six Gulf Cooperation Council nations in the Middle East offer many attractive growth opportunities due to the current low penetration of insurance products, says Theodor Alexandrescu, general manager of MetLife Gulf.
