PHOTO
European banking giant UBS Group is setting up a new office in Abu Dhabi, as it seeks to capitalise on the influx of wealthy individuals migrating to the Middle East, according to Bloomberg.
The ultra-rich have been moving away from countries that impose high taxes like the United Kingdom and choosing to live in the region due to the low-tax environment, the news agency quoted Beatriz Martin Jimenez, president of the bank’s businesses across Europe, Middle East and Africa region.
“The Middle East has definitely been a winner for private individuals that have been moving away from higher-tax regimes, other places and other locations like the UK,” Jimenez, who was speaking at the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha on Tuesday, noted. “We’ve seen that migration of clients.”
Over the past decade, the resident millionaire population in the UAE capital went up by 80%, according to Henley & Partners. The emirate is also forecast to see its centi-millionaire population to more than double over the next ten years.
(Writing by Cleofe Maceda; editing by Seban Scaria)
