Over the past decade fund manufacturers, both in the West and Middle East, have created and distributed their own versions of Mena funds.

Mena'€™s fledgling hedge fund industry has an opportunity to prove that absolute-return managers can protect clients from downside risk, finds Nick Fitzpatrick.

Citi's investment in its Middle East and North Africa custody and asset servicing business, which supports investors'€™, intermediaries'€™ and fund managers'€™ operations, is showing results.

International fund managers expect wealthy individuals in the Mena region to employ funds to gain access to global markets. Yet the same is not true of home investment. Angele Spiteri Paris asks why, and listens to fund managers' expectations.

Asset servicers in the Mena region exist for local managers that want to expand internationally, and for international managers that want access to the Gulf and surrounding area. Here they talk about the problems faced by managers in the region and the challenges, such as automation, that asset servicers face in order to help clients. (part 2)