The study – Asset Management Industry in the GCC: Growth Dynamics and Contours of the Next Phase of Evolution – was conducted by Markab Advisory on behalf of the Qatar Financial Centre Authority, and focuses on assessing the structure and evolution of what the report’s authors note “is still a very young industry in global terms”.
The study assesses what the authors say are the factors most likely to shape shaping the next phase of regional economic growth, and that of the asset management industry. These factors include the global economic rebalancing from West to East; the so-called Arab Spring movement, and how this may redefine capital flows; and the pace of development of GCC capital markets.
It also looks at the rise and fall of various asset classes in the region. For example, it notes, the GCC’s private equity industry, “negligible in size ten years ago with assets of less than $1bn, has grown [by] at least 15 times” this amount since then.
What is more, “although the PE industry has undergone major shake-up during the recent financial crisis, it appears to be the leading component of the GCC asset management industry”, it says.
Later, it adds: “In the intermediate term, it may not be the stock markets, [but] rather private equity, that may become the arbiter of capital allocation” in the region.
To read the study, click here.
