Fund companies in the Gulf countries can expect their assets under management to double to $111 billion by 2020, according to new predictions.
In the wider Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region in the same period, assets are predicted to rise by more than half to an estimated $679 billion, said the report by the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and Thomson Reuters.
“DIFC has identified the wealth and asset management industry as having huge potential for growth over the next five years,” said Arif Amiri, chief executive of the DIFC Authority.
The biggest hubs for assets in the MEASA region are India followed by South Africa, according to the research, while Saudi Arabia is the largest in the Gulf region, accounting for roughly half of the assets in the Gulf Cooperation Council.
“The past two years have been the most economically challenging since the financial crisis of 2008,” said the DIFC report. However, despite political turmoil and election surprises, “the asset management industry has performed relatively well”.
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