Wednesday, Sep 14, 2011
By Nicolas Parasie
OF ZAWYA DOW JONES
DUBAI (Zawya Dow Jones)--RBS Coutts, the private banking arm of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), wants to hire around 40 relationship managers by 2015 to beef up its Middle East business and plans to move into Dubai's international financial centre as it expects to double its assets under management in the region to about $8 billion, a senior executive said.
"The Middle East is one of the core international growth markets, we very interested in this part of the world," said James Fleming, global head of Coutts' Middle East business, in a recent interview with Zawya Dow Jones.
Strong economic prospects related to oil and gas revenues has produced a high concentration of wealth that has attracted well-known private banks such as UBS, J.P.Morgan and Julius Baer to the region in recent years.
"The growth is underpinned by real tangible assets that are in demand and that offers an exciting cocktail of opportunities," said Fleming.
Regionally, Coutts has about $4 billion in assets under management, which it wants to double by 2015, and about 24 relationship managers, the number of which it aims to nearly triple. Coutts Middle East has been in Dubai since 1999 and also has offices in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
The bank has applied for a license to operate in the DIFC, the emirate's premier business park, and will move its local Dubai operation there after obtaining it, which will offer the bank "a broader base to advise clients."
The private bank is also looking at Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter and the Arab world's largest economy, and to expand its shariah-compliant offering to grow the Middle East business.
"We find Saudi an interesting market and we're increasing our focus towards it," Fleming said.
The wealth management sector in the Middle East and Africa is set to grow faster than the global average, a recent study from Boston Consulting Group showed, forecasting the regional private banking industry's assets under management to increase around 8% per year between 2010 and 2015, beating the international average.
But the recent political upheavals sweeping the region may put the brakes on the anticipated growth, bankers have said.
"There's no doubt there is been an increase in flows of investment capital into London and Switzerland from the whole region," Fleming said. The global economic concerns, however, may lead to a halt of capital exiting the region, he added.
"There's a lot of volatility around the world and I think the increased flows as a result of the Arab Spring isn't necessarily going to increase further in the next 2 to 3 months," Fleming said. "People are generally looking warily across the entire investment horizon."
Middle East investors, meanwhile, continue to look to buy property in London and prefer cash, high grade bonds and gold as asset classes, all considered less risky investments.
-By Nicolas Parasie, Dow Jones Newswires; +9714 446-1681; nicolas.parasie@dowjones.com
Copyright (c) 2011 Dow Jones & Co.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
14-09-11 0524GMT
