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Abu Dhabi - The National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) has launched the "West-East Corridor (WEC) Africa & Asia Frontier Market Fund",a foreign fund domiciled in Ireland that will offer investors attractive returns by investing in diversified portfolio of Africa and Asia market equities.
Alex Thursby, NBAD's Group Chief Executive Officer, said: "NBAD's WECAfrica & Asia Frontier Market Fund complements the Bank's existing suite of investment product offerings. It is in line with NBAD's Global Asset Management strategy to expand our presence in the West-East Corridor and enable investors to tap into the best opportunities across these markets."
Claude-Henri Chavanon, Managing Director & Head of Global Asset Managementat NBAD, said: "We have been witnessing demand from investors to add West-East Corridor markets to their portfolios, and we want to offer investors a product which allows them to capture higher returns, while taking measured levels of risk. With the newly launched fund, ourclients have access to frontier markets. These marketshavea low correlation with emerging and developed markets and provideinvestors withan opportunity to diversify their portfolios and to potentiallyoffset downturns in other markets."
NBAD's WECAfrica and Asia Frontier Market Fund is an open-ended, actively managed product. It is open toinstitutional and individual retail investors.
The Fund investsin liquid large and mid-cap company stocks in select Frontier Markets, excluding GCC. It provides investors easy access to otherwise difficult-to-access marketsand the ability to tap into strong, growth companies whichoffer capital appreciation potential and have the potential to deliver attractive and consistent levels of income.The Fund will invest in bourses of Kenya, Tunisia, Mauritius, Morocco, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Lebanon, Jordan, Vietnam, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
NBAD's Global Asset Management manages assets in excess of AED 10 billion, making it one of the largest in the UAE. The Group has won a number of awards over the last few years in recognition of its innovative, customer-centric products which continue to perform exceptionally. For example, NBAD was awardedBest Fixed Income Fund by Banker Middle East UAE Product Awards 2015. NBAD's Global Asset Management has also received four prestigious awards at the MENA Fund Manager Performance Awards 2015, recognising NBAD Onshore MSCI UAE UCITSETF as the 'Best Exchange Traded Fund (ETF)', NBAD Shariah MENA Dividend Leader Fund as 'Best New Fund' for' andNBAD UAE Growth Fund as 'Best UAE Fund'. In addition to 'Best MENA Fund under $50 Million' which went to NBAD Islamic MENA Growth Fund. NBAD's Global Asset Management also won in the last few years, TheBest Islamic Fund by Global Islamic Finance Awards 2014 and Asset Manager of the Year by the prestigious Global Investor/ISF at its Middle East Summit and Awards 2013. It has also been named the Best Asset Management House 2013 by the International Takaful Award and Best Exchange Traded Fund of 2013 at the MENA Fund Manager Performance Awards, as well Best Sukuk Fund 2013 at the Islamic Business & Finance Award.
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About NBAD
The National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) has one of the largest networks in the UAE, with an expanding network of 125 branches and cash offices and more than 585 ATMs across the country. NBAD's growing international network consists of about 60 branches and offices in 18 countries stretching across five continents from the Far East to the Americas, giving it the largest global network among all UAE banks.
Since 2009, NBAD has been ranked consecutively as one of the World's 50 Safest Banks by the prestigious Global Finance magazine, which also named NBAD the Safest Bank in the Emerging Markets and the Middle East.
NBAD is rated senior long term/short term AA-/A-1+ by Standard & Poor's (S&P), Aa3/P1 by Moody's, AA-/F1+ by Fitch, A+ by Rating and Investment Information Inc (R&I) Japan, and AAA by RAM (Malaysia) , giving it one of the strongest combined rating of any Global financial institution.
A comprehensive financial institution, NBAD offers a range of banking services including retail, investment and Islamic banking. NBAD grows strategically toward its vision to be recognised as the World's Best Arab Bank.
For more information please visit our corporate webpage at: www.nbad.com.
For further enquires, please contact:
Michael Miller
Head of Investor, Media & Public Relations
Email: michael.miller@nbad.com
Tel: +971 2 611 2355
Mobile: +971 50 619 7116
Fadeela Khamis
Manager, Media & Public Relations
Email: fadeela.mohamed@nbad.com
Tel: +971 2 611 1511
Mobile: +971 56 616 2265
© Press Release 2015
