QFCA and Campden Wealth Launch Mideast Wealth Report

Doha, May 29 (QNA) - Qatar Financial Centre Authority (QFCA) and Campden Wealth, the London-based supplier of market insight, on Wednesday published "Beyond Convention," their inaugural Middle East Wealth Report into Middle East wealth holders and how they interact with providers of financial services designed to meet their needs. The Report found that wealthy families in the Middle East have a strong entrepreneurial spirit, want to play an active role in managing their money, scrutinize their wealth manager relationships more closely than a year ago, and have great confidence in the future of the region. "The QFC Authority is proud to have supported this valuable study offering the most comprehensive insight to date into Middle East wealth holders and their interaction with providers of financial services," QFC Authority Chief Strategic Development Officer Yousuf Mohamed Al-Jaida said of the research, adding: "The Beyond Convention study is an important piece of research which shows the QFC Authority's continuous commitment to thought leadership, benefiting the financial services industry in the Middle East as well as in Qatar. Moreover, the findings show that financial centers such as Qatar will increasingly be seen as attractive jurisdictions for family offices. The QFC is focused on offering a highly conducive environment for the development and growth of family offices, whether their ambitions are local, regional or global." Dominic Samuelson, CEO of Campden Wealth said his firm is very proud to have produced the report, which, he said "brings to this dynamic and exciting region our unrivalled expertise in researching the needs and concerns of significantly wealthy families throughout the world." "We are grateful for the support of the QFC Authority in this project. It was fascinating to discover the breadth and diversity of the business activities evident among the participants in the research, as well as the strength of the entrepreneurial spirit shown in companies that have been active for generations," added Samuelson. For his part, David Dhanoo, Group Chief Legal Officer and Board Secretary of the Qatar Financial Centre Authority, added that: "This research makes compelling reading for all those interested in helping to develop a vibrant location for single family offices. It demonstrates the importance of the new regulations governing single family offices which the QFC Authority issued last year. These regulations offer new opportunities for family offices to establish and manage their affairs more professionally and subject to better governance in the QFC's attractive world class legal, tax and regulatory environment," he concluded. The Report is based on quantitative research with 47 ultra-high net worth individuals from the GCC countries as well as Lebanon, Syria and Egypt. A significant number of these respondents agreed to take part in substantive one-on-one interviews to complement the quantitative data with more nuanced, anecdotal and qualitative information. Additionally, the research benefitted from the candid, off-the-record view of numerous other advisers, senior executives and practitioners with experience in wealth-management. Of the respondents, 60 % were members of family businesses, reflecting the fact that family businesses control as much as 75 % of private sector economic activity in the GCC. The research was conducted in the fourth quarter of 2012 and early in 2013. More than 60 % of respondents said they pursued wealth creation rather than wealth preservation as an investment goal, which typically this would means that few would be content with less than 8 % growth on their investments. Respondents mirrored their peer group elsewhere in the world by expecting to earn high returns on relatively low-risk investments. But amongst the asset classes that the respondents expressed a preference for, alternative investments such as hedge funds and private equity were popular. According to the findings of the report, nearly 40 % of respondents said that they had an excellent relationship with their private banker and/or wealth manager, with only 7 % saying it was poor. However, 80 % of them felt that bankers did not take responsibility for the consequences of their advice and respondents also wanted more transparency about bankers' fees. In addition, 60 % of respondents said that they now scrutinized their relationship with their private banks and wealth managers much more closely than they had done a year before. Companies in transition from the first to the second generation of owners predominantly described themselves as entrepreneurial, but a growing group of wealth owners in the Middle East also said they were entrepreneurs. Fifty-five % of the respondents intended to continue to invest their money in the Middle East at the expense of other regions in the world. Financial centers such as Doha were increasingly seen as safe havens to deposit money. Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) is a financial and business center established by the government of Qatar and located in Doha. It has been designed to attract international financial services institutions and major multi-national corporations in particular those operating in the reinsurance, captive insurance and asset management sectors and to encourage participation in the growing market for financial services in Qatar and elsewhere in the region. QFC Authority is the commercial, administrative and legislative body responsible for leading the expansion of Qatar's financial services sector, providing a uniquely sustainable platform for regional growth in reinsurance, captive insurance and asset management. (QNA)