Think gold, healthcare, India for investments this year: Emirates Islamic

Source: Emirates Islamic. Jamal (left) and Dugan (right).

Emirates Islamic, a UAE-based Islamic financial institution has shared the investment outlook for 2017 with its wealth management clients in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

Presented by Gary Dugan, Chief Investment Officer (CIO) for Emirates NBD, Dealing with Global Disruptors - Investment Outlook for 2017 detailed disruptions to the global economy in the last year which have created challenges to conventional wisdom. Citing events such as Brexit, US President Donald Trump’s victory, the rise of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the launch of the Tesla car as global disruptors, Dugan said: “These political and technological events were major surprises to global financial markets, and have triggered significant shifts in the valuations of currencies and asset classes. More importantly, they have forced investors around the globe to rethink their long-term investment strategies.”

Explaining that the disruptions to conventional wisdom would most likely continue through 2017, Dugan advised, "Given the ongoing volatile global economic and political environment, it is important to invest in countries and sectors that offer long term growth and value. We believe for example, that sectors like technology and healthcare and countries like India offer relative value in current environment. As a general principle, investments should focus on preserving capital, while at the same time achieving reasonable profit levels.”

“Gold continues to play an important role for us. The yellow metal price has continued to deliver returns and remains a key diversification component for investment portfolios,” he added.

The investment outlook event was in keeping with Emirates Islamic’s vision to be a leading Islamic bank in the region. The bank has continued to build on its long-term relationship with customers, through a ‘customer first’ approach, which focuses on personalised financial services.

Jamal Bin Ghalaita, CEO, Emirates Islamic said: “Wealth management is one of the key pillars of the banking proposition at Emirates Islamic, and we aim to provide personalised wealth advisory services to our clients through a comprehensive platform, backed by in-depth knowledge in Islamic finance and extensive expertise in local and regional investments. The continued collaboration with global Islamic finance solutions providers also empowers Emirates Islamic to provide additional value to clients, and enables us to move closer to our goal of becoming the preferred provider of shari’ah-compliant wealth management solutions in the region.” 

PwC launches APAC research centre for asset and wealth management

Source: PwC. PwC is to open an Asset & Wealth Management Asia-Pacific Research Centre in Singapore.

PwC has launched its Asset & Wealth Management (AWM) Asia-Pacific Research Centre, which will be headquartered in Singapore. With the support of the Singapore Economic Development Board, the AWM Asia-Pacific Research Centre aims to build capability in AWM in Singapore and across the region.

As an extension of PwC’s Global Market Research Centre based in Luxembourg, the AWM Asia-Pacific Research Centre will help to address the asset and wealth management industry’s market research needs such as identifying new market opportunities through its dedicated market-entry reports, help asset and wealth managers assess their competitiveness, improve their visibility in the market and monitor key trends.

This will be done through the development of in-depth analytical reports to support players in developing their strategy. It will also provide guidance for new players' market-entry aspirations across the Asia-Pacific region and engage in dialogue with regulators and governments in Asia-Pacific through policy papers.

“We are at the beginning of the Asian decade as global economic power and wealth shifts from west to east. The financial services industry in Asia-Pacific is at the cusp of re-engineering and consolidating. PwC’s AWM Asia-Pacific Research Centre will provide clients and other financial institutions with tools to expand their footprint in this region through the provision of market intelligence and supporting thought leadership,” says Justin Ong, Asia-Pacific Asset and Wealth Management Leader at PwC Singapore.

Barry Benjamin, PwC Global Asset and Wealth Management Leader adds, “The impacts of globalisation, technology advances and changing demographics are leading to dramatic shifts in how people accumulate, manage and distribute their wealth. The Centre will play an integral role in advancing research as well as developing perspectives on these challenges.”

The centre aims to build the analyst and research team to 12 over the next five years.