An insight into Standard Life Aberdeen’s young Abu Dhabi office
By Mark Battersby, 7 Mar 18
One of the youngest international offices in the merged Standard Life Aberdeen Group was set up by Aberdeen Asset Management in late 2016, before two businesses combined.
Where do you see the biggest opportunities for raising new assets in the region?
We are looking at it from a few different angles. I think, geographically, and I don’t suppose this will be a particular shock to anyone, it would be Saudi and the UAE. Those are, by far and away, the two markets that we are spending most time in. Saudi is further out of the region but it’s about half, two thirds of the region’s GDP. It’s got a lot of press coverage right now.
It is the biggest market, and that is a key focus. The UAE is our home and a very substantial market in its own right. In contrast, if you look at Kuwait or Oman, Bahrain, there are good opportunities, but I would say the breadth is not quite there to the extent of the UAE, or Saudi.
In those two countries you can speak to tens and tens of organisations, whereas in Oman or the others, it is a slightly smaller pool to speak to.
In terms of types of investors, there always are the Sovereign Wealth Funds, but mandates for them are few and far between. But you never know: if you have the best products in a particular area be sure they will get in touch with you.
Two areas where we see a lot of focus are certainly cash-rich, and the pensions funds in the region.
You do already have pension funds for the expats today, but the public pension funds tend to be cash-rich, and unlike the schemes in the UK or the US, they’re still in a cash flow positive situation. So, their liabilities are far into the distance, and they’re still bringing in money.
There are only a handful of these pension funds in each country, but they’re certainly a good and big opportunity.
The other area for us is the wholesale side of business, so private wealth, whether that’s expats, or locals, tending to be Arabs, and the Non-resident Indian. That’s a key area, and that’s one of the channels that’s probably most unlocked by being here on the ground. When you’re speaking to the local banks or local insurance companies, they are far more intent to cover us. They want people on the ground, whereas the Sovereign Wealth Funds quite like the fact that you’re in the same time zone, in the same city, or easy to get to, but thankfully, if you’ve got a very good product, they’ll deal with you wherever you’re based.
