New premier banking service to target affluent clients as survey reveals that 86 per cent of people in the UAE want a bank that understands their wealth management requirements
Dubai. Barclays today announces the launch of a new offshore office in Dubai. The new office will be opened by its offshore wealth management arm, Barclays International, and will offer UAE investors with US$200,000 or more to invest a comprehensive banking and investment advisory service.
The office opening is part of Barclays strategic expansion into key international markets, of which the UAE has been identified as a crucial growth area. It follows Barclays International's expansion into a similarly bustling business centre, Hong Kong, earlier this year.
Barclays International Premier is the first personal investment unit in Dubai to provide a selection of sophisticated products and services to clients with a minimum of US$200,000 to invest - this service is normally reserved for private bank clients.
Clients will be able to benefit from the security of Barclays, the tenth largest bank in the world by market capitalisation, with assets under management of nearly 700 billion and a reputation built over 300 years.
Adrian Crichton, Director of Barclays International Personal and Premier explained, "Launching this new service ties in with the Barclays Group strategy to increase the proportion of income that it generates from operations outside of the UK and to grow its global wealth business. Dubai was identified as an ideal market to launch this service as it is a growing city, which is home to an ever-increasing number of sophisticated business people who want the best money management they can access."
The bank also unveiled consumer qualitative research, which highlights low levels of customer satisfaction with wealth management banking (please see notes to editors for full findings).
David Inglesfield, Head of Barclays International Premier in the UAE commented, "The UAE is widely recognized as one of the key financial centers in the world. With the amount of capital that is based here and the level of investment that is occurring in so many different sectors, it made sense to us to establish a firm base here.
"The data we uncovered from our recent survey into people's wealth management needs revealed what people in the UAE want from a wealth management organization. We have used these market insights to help us formulate the new dedicated, UAE-based offshore banking service - Barclays International Premier, which we have launched here today," said Mr Inglesfield.
The service offered to those who bring their business to Barclays International Premier is designed to be differentiated from others already available in the market and will benefit from relationship managers on the ground in the UAE with their accounts booked in Geneva through Barclays Bank (Suisse) S.A., which has a market leading operations system.
David Inglesfield explained, "Clients in the UAE will benefit from the highest possible standards of personal service and local insight from a team of professionally qualified relationship managers based in Dubai, who in turn have access to a wealth of knowledge from Geneva based product experts."
"Other advantages of the new service include access to more competitive deposit rates, and professional advice on a very wide range of longer terms savings and investment strategies, using the world's best products and providers the service is not limited to Barclays own product range."
Barclays provides banking services to more than one million affluent and high net worth clients around the globe and now operates four businesses in the UAE - Barclays UAE for Business Banking and in 2005 will provide Retail Banking, Barclays Capital for Investment Banking, Barclays Private Bank and Barclays International.
-Ends-
Notes to editors:
About Barclays PLC
Barclays is an international financial services group engaged primarily in banking, investment banking and investment management. Barclays has been involved in banking for over 300 years and operates in over 60 countries, with 76,200 employees and 2,916 branches worldwide. Barclays has five major business groupings. UK Banking is its core retail and business banking franchise in the UK. Barclays has over 10 million UK personal clients and 179,000 business banking clients. Barclaycard is the largest credit card brand in Europe and operates in Germany, France, Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Republic of Ireland and across Africa. Private Clients and International combines Barclays wealth management business and the Group's personal and commercial banking activities outside the UK. Barclays Capital is Barclays financing and risk management focused investment bank and BGI is Barclays global leader in the institutional investment management market. For more information about Barclays PLC, please visit www.barclays.com.
Barclays Businesses in Dubai
Barclays U.A.E - Catering to the Business Banking Sector and in 2005 will provide Retail Banking.
Barclays Capital - The investment banking division, provided financing solutions and risk intermediation strategies for the increasingly sophisticated client base.
Barclays Private Bank - Providing tailored wealth management solutions to clients with investable assets in excess of $2million.
Barclays International offers the following services:
International Premier Banking - A relationship banking service for affluent expatriates, international travelers and non-UK nationals. Clients with investible assets in excess of between US$200,000 (or currency equivalent) receive comprehensive financial advice from a dedicated Relationship Manager.
International Banking for Corporates - Offering a specialist banking service for professionals and companies requiring international banking facilities including day-to-day banking, money transmission, telephone banking and cash management. World class product range that includes accounts in all the world's major currencies, company charge cards, comprehensive payments and collections facilities, competitive deposit, investment and lending products, and a specialist trade and treasury service.
International Personal Banking - Designed for expatriates and non-UK nationals based around the world. Provides an integrated service, through a comprehensive range of offerings including money transmission, telephone banking and savings.
Clients interested in Barclays International Banking in Dubai can obtain further information from the website www.internationalbanking.barclays.com/uae or by contacting 800 227 468 ( +971 800 227 468 outside UAE).
Key findings - Survey into UAE resident's wealth management requirements
Barclays commissioned consumer research to help with the bank's personal investment expansion and to gain a greater understanding of UAE residents wealth management needs. The survey identified a number of unanswered consumer needs in wealth banking. These shortcomings were revealed through in-depth, face-to-face consumer interviews commissioned from independent research consultants Start Consult.
The survey of UAE residents and revealed that only 40 percent of people interviewed described themselves as "happy" with their current banking relationship and an overwhelming 86 percent reported that their current bank does not understand their individual wealth management requirements.
Demonstrating its dedication to meeting the needs of the market, Barclays International has reacted to the survey's results that an overwhelming 90 percent of respondents want a strong personal relationship with their banker by employing highly knowledgeable relationship managers, who are supported by product experts in Geneva.
The research revealed that only 20 percent of respondents in the UAE reported they were "happy" with the product range on offer from their bank, while few respondents felt that their bank really cared about them, or strived to understand their real needs, or offered the relevant products or services to reflect these needs.
The survey also revealed:
The vast majority of consumers - 80 percent - feel that they are currently in banking relationships which can be rated average or poor based on the understanding their investment needs, availability of a wide range of products and individual attention.
Product range, innovation, brand name, service, accessibility and attention are the key criteria that would affect the choice of respondents when looking for an offshore banking relationship.
Respondents made it clear they want the banking industry to be a service industry - like an airline or hotel - but none of them perceive their bank as being a centre of service excellence. Only 4 percent of respondents cited a banking experience as their 'most satisfying' service industry experience.
The new breed of affluent clients does not like to be pushed into making a choice by a service provider. While they occasionally expect opinions, they feel much more comfortable being left alone to make their choices.
For more information please contact:
Perry Jones Mira Sadek
International PR Manger Senior Account Executive
Barclays PLC Impact Porter Novelli
Tel: 00 44 207 699 4077 Tel: 00 9714 3304030 x 412
Mob: 00 44 7775 547 341 GSM: 00 97150 644 3278
Email: perry.jones@barclays.co.uk Email: m.sadek@ipn.ae
© Press Release 2004
