Almost one third of the Middle East’s investment advisers will be raising client portfolio allocations towards GCC/Mena equities in the year ahead, according to a new report. However, 51.4% have no plans to change clients’ exposure and 16.4% plan to reduce it.
The Middle East Investment Panorama (MEIP) survey, a follow up to last year’s Gulf Professional Adviser Survey (GPAS), also found that international asset management companies and international life companies consider the region a “substantial commercial opportunity” due to the growth of capital pools and expatriate wealth.
“At a time that growth in asset pools in much of Europe and North America is being constrained by the volatility of financial markets, sluggish economies, unfavourable demographics or other challenges, the relative importance of the GCC and Mena countries is increasing,” said Nigel Sillitoe, CEO of Insight Discovery. “The regional asset management industry is at an early stage of its development, but is clearly moving in the right direction.”
