DOHA: With the volume of Assets under Management (AuM) in the Mena region multiplying over the past few years, the role of asset management in Qatar’s financial market is set to grow solid.
Strong currents are running in Qatar in favour of Asset Management sector. The country will harness the sector’s potential to promote overall financial market and economic development, QFC Authority CEO and Board Member Shashank Srivastava noted yesterday.
The Mena asset management sector is small but is rapidly growing. The Mena region’s share of global assets under management (AuM) is slightly more than one percent falling short of the region’s share of five percent in global GDP. This picture is remarkably similar to insurance where Mena premiums also account for about one percent of the global market.
According Shashank, strong currents are running in the region’s favour in terms of Asset Management sector. The global map is being redrawn and new centres of influence are developing. The global economic balance of power has shifted markedly over the past two decades, in favour of emerging market economies.
Qatar is a prominent example. With hydrocarbon reserves fuelling growth, financial stability and with a visionary government Qatar is emerging as a solid and dependable partner. Qatar has avoided the upheavals some other countries in the Mena region have experienced.
From the standpoint of fund manager, Qatar’s stability and sustained growth have translated into considerable potential as an investment market. Also, Qatar has fast-growing population, with one of the world’s highest savings rate, 49 percent compared with a GCC average of 37 percent, according to the Economic Intelligence Unit.
Qatar also boasts the second highest percentage of millionaire households in the world and the highest percentage in the GCC, with 14 millionaire households per 100, as estimated by BCG’s 2003 Wealth Report. Official wealth is also growing . Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund is estimated to have assets exceeding $100bn, according to Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute.
On the opportunities in Qatar, Shashank noted Qatar is increasingly accumulating a rich variety of firms and professionals such as accountants, lawyers and specialist bankers who serve the asset management industry.
A strong cluster of auxiliary services is of vital importance to the asset management sector’s development.
The Peninsula
