HSBC launches UAE asset management business to tap into wealth influx

The bank has focused its growth efforts on regions such as Asia and the Middle East

HSBC is opening an asset management business in the UAE and launching 10 onshore funds, it said on Monday (Jan 12), as the bank deepens its investment in the region and taps into an influx of wealth into the Gulf country.

“Our investment in building an onshore asset management business is about capturing the significant and long-term wealth opportunity in the UAE,” Dinesh Sharma, HSBC’s Regional Head of International Wealth and Personal Banking for the Middle East and Turkey, said in a statement, citing demand for such structures regulated in the UAE.

The country has, in recent years, witnessed an influx of high-net-worth individuals, attracted by the relative ease of doing business, convenient time zones, and tax-free status, prompting several global asset managers to start or expand their footprint here.

London-headquartered HSBC has been scaling back its worldwide operations as part of an overhaul started in 2024, including reorganising operating divisions along East-West lines and shedding sub-scale investment banking units. It has focused its growth efforts on regions such as Asia and the Middle East.

The bank has appointed James Grist as general manager of the new UAE asset management entity, the bank said in the statement without providing details on the size of the business and staff. HSBC Asset Management had assets under management worth US$852 billion as of the end of September last year. REUTERS

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