Hiring Continues In The Middle East Wealth Management Bonanza

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Despite chilly global credit markets, the Middle Eastern wealth management arena is a recruitment hotspot. Firms are busily hiring senior executives to spearhead new wealth management teams. For example, Merrill Lynch recently appointed Mazin Al-Shakarchi as a financial advisor covering Qatar from the Bahrain office. HSBC Bank Middle East has appointed Walid Boustany to the role of executive director, strategic investments, Middle East & North Africa. He will be responsible for HSBC’s strategic planning across the region. Goldman Sachs, the US investment bank, has appointed Fadi Abuali as co-head of its Middle East private wealth management business, alongside current head Farid Pasha.

And there is more: the Central Bank of Bahrain has approved Douglas Hansen-Luke as Robeco’s new chief executive for the Middle East. Mr Hansen-Luke formerly worked in senior positions for ABN Amro Asset Management in Asia, Europe and Saudi Arabia. Bahrain-based Ithmaar Bank has appointed Shaikh Salman bin Ahmad Al Khalifa as managing director, group business development.

The rash of appointments seen in recent years will continue, barring an unlikely collapse in demand for wealth management, Professor Amin Rajan, chief executive of Create-Research, a UK consultancy on the investment management industry, told WealthBriefing.

Wealth managers are going into the Middle East in a big way, said Professor Rajan. This is a high-margin business to be in as banks get fees right along the value chain, he said. But although the region is lucrative, making money is not easy. Local investors typically punish poor investment performance quickly – often far faster than is the case with European or US clients, said Professor Rajan.

The real issue is to understand the client mindset. Client money [in the Middle East] isn’t sticky at all. When performance is bad they ask for a rebate, which is how it should be. If [wealth managers] can survive in the Middle East, they can survive anywhere, he added.

Barclays Wealth, for example, has every intention of doing more than just survive in the region. As an illustration of its ambitions, Barclays is moving into a new 14,000 square feet office in the Dubai International Financial Centre, which will be a hub for the firm’s operations in the region. Operating currently in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Barclays Wealth is also planning to make its Doha Qatar office operational this year.

Barclays Wealth leadership believes that the Middle East is a core area of growth. A substantial investment in human resources and capabilities and a rigorous expansion plan will lead to a substantial increase in the scope of operations, Soha Nashaat, managing director, head of Middle East, North Africa & Turkey for Barclays Wealth, told WealthBriefing.
Like Professor Rajan, Ms Nashaat says wealth management firms entering the Middle East from outside the region must understand the local culture if they are to make a success of their business. For example, more than 70 per cent of businesses are family-owned, which requires managers to forge long-term connections.

Wealth managers must understand and cater to the regional trends such as the dominance of family offices, Ms Nashaat said. Investors tend to be intolerant of risk and hold a high proportion of assets in cash and in offshore locations, she added.

Middle Eastern clients put great stress on strong relationships with investment advisors and dislike high turnover in staff, a factor that wealth managers must consider in their staff recruitment and retention plans, Stuart Crocker, chief executive, Emirates Platform and Southern Gulf States, HSBC Private Bank told WealthBriefing.

People don’t like seeing relationship managers moving on every two or three years to other banks, he said. His own bank, part of the HSBC banking group, serves clients both from local Middle Eastern locations as well as from its teams of specialists in Geneva.

The general background for wealth managers is certainly favourable. The investable assets of HNW individuals will rise by 50 per cent between 2006 and 2010, according to Barclays Wealth data.

The number of HNW individuals rose by 11.9 per cent in 2006 from a year before, according to the latest Merrill Lynch/Capgemini World Wealth Report issued last June. Wealth management intermediaries have only started to manage a significant share of assets in the region. Research from Zurich International Life, for example, reveals that expats living in the Middle East prefer to rely on their own judgment or friends and family when purchasing financial products. The survey showed that fewer than one in ten expats would enlist a financial advisor, either in their country of domicile or residence, to help them make the financial decisions. Financial advisors have a vast untapped market to go for.

While researchers like PricewaterhouseCoopers have warned that wealth management firms face a skills bottleneck, hiring staff for Middle Eastern slots is being helped by a benign tax regime and attractive pay packages.

Private bankers in tax-free Dubai earn 25 per cent more than their peers in Geneva and almost 40 per cent more than colleagues in London, according to a recent survey by Dubai-based headhunter Dunn Consultancy FZ-LLC.

Excluding bonuses, private bankers in Dubai with at least 10 years experience receive an average salary of $276,500 with allowances, compared with pre-tax earnings of $221,900 in Geneva and $199,100 in London, it found.

The economics of wealth management in the Middle East certainly look compelling. For the time being at least, the toughest challenge for players in the region is keeping up with the pace.

Mortgage Calculator Sites Will Offer You A Rapid Solution

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Getting a home is one thing that most of us may have to do at least once in our lives. Unless of course we’re fortunate enough to have pulled together adequate financial savings to purchase one outright, the odds are that we will have to borrow if we are to move right into a property worth residing in.

It means that you need to consider critically about mortgages. The reality of the matter is that most homeowners have a mortgage at any given time, and it might be a real headache in case you have borrowed while not giving much thought to exactly where to get the best deal. It takes some searching to locate a good mortgage, and as you could be paying it back again for many years it is worth the effort.

Before you decide to apply for a mortgage, you have to think about various things. What are you able to do to make your borrowing as little as possible? Just how much can you manage to shell out in a month? Is it practical to keep the term of the mortgage shorter than regular?

One of the things you should usually do is check mortgage calculator internet sites to get a well-researched run down of what you possibly can expect to borrow and on what terms. You simply enter your facts – honestly, for the reason that there is no point pretending you can pay out back greater than you really can – and see what comes out.

There is a lot of competition within the mortgage marketplace, and lots of likely users will apply for mortgages with lenders that they know – their very own personal bank, frequently – with out really putting in the groundwork and research that is essential.

Mortgage calculator sites would be the ideal answer for folks who’re not certain that they are currently being told the truth about the best deals on the marketplace. They are going to offer you a straightforward answer as to what exactly is out there with a variety of lenders, and will allow you to prioritise what’s most crucial for you.

There is a great deal of knowledge about mortgages presented here that will help you understand specifically what you have to do. You may figure out how to apply for mortgages below to get the most effective offer from suppliers.

Release Equity – A Suitable Option to Secure Your Financial Future

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Equity release is the ideal means of securing a lump sum or steady flow of income by unlocking the equities out of your property. In reality anything that has capital value can be put to good use through the ‘release equity’ program. It is a very good option for the senior citizens who are in dire need of financial support in the post retirement period. The catch is that the equity release provider will use your property to get back his dues usually after your death and you may not be able to bequeath anything to your heirs. If you do not have any qualm regarding this issue, you can surely opt for release equity schemes to secure your financial future in twilight days.

There are some advantages and disadvantages of equity release options. Let us have a glance over them. In the post retirement phase, feeble financial condition pops up as one of the major problems. We grope in the dark in quest of help and suddenly stumble upon ‘release equity’ option. By availing an equity release scheme, we can secure the tax-free cash or a steady stream of sufficient income. Apart from providing us with strong financial support in future, the release equity option also brings about a significant reduction in the volume of inheritance tax . The market interest rate is of ‘floating’ nature and when it dips, the borrowers are allowed to resort to mortgage refinancing. If the economic condition takes a nosedive, the borrowers are well protected by the ‘No Negative Equity Guarantee’ facility. None of the release equity schemes requires the retirees to move out of their properties, instead it permits them to live in the same house till they expire.

There are certain disadvantages of the release equity policies. In case, the property value does not go up by leaps and bounds and the increase in value remains much less than the interest level, then your heirs will inherit a very paltry amount of money after you die. If you are a very benevolent person and wish to donate something to any charitable organization, then release equity program will curtail the amount that you have planned to bequeath to charity. In spite of these pitfalls, increasing numbers of retired persons are in favor of the equity release option.

Release equity is available in myriad forms such as lifetime mortgage, interest only, home reversion, home income plan and shared appreciation mortgage. One should go for the scheme that suits his needs. The ordinary persons are not expected to have profound knowledge of these various release equity plans. They are also unaware of the offers made by different equity release companies. In such a situation, help of an expert advisor may turn out to be of great help for the laymen. Every intending candidate wants to know how much cash he/she can extract out of the properties. To quench this query, the income-providers have come up with the equity release calculator . This calculator computes the exact amount that one can have by taking out the equities and converting them into cash. Calculation is based upon the evaluation of the property value at ongoing market rate and also the age of the candidate. A well-maintained property brings you a substantial volume of money. So always try to keep your house in fine fettle as no lender is willing to incur loss by providing money against a dilapidated property.

Deworming Your Dog – Step By Step Procedure

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ALL puppies will have intestinal worms during their lifetime. Deworming your dog or puppy is highly recommended to get rid of those parasites even though many resources we have talked to vary in their overall deworming schedule time.

Because of this one small fact it is very true that ALL puppies should be dewormed starting at about three to four weeks of age with treatments repeating about every 2 weeks again at 4, 6, and 8 weeks of age. It is also a good idea to continue the deworming process on the puppy afterwards at least once per month until the puppy is at least 6 months old.

Deworming Small Puppies

* Begin treatment at 2 weeks of age; repeat again at 4, 6, and 8 weeks of age. For a puppy that is at increased risk,such as an abandoned puppy, also treat the puppy at 10 and 12 weeks of age, and then monthly until the puppy is at least 6 months old. Afterward, use a heart worm preventive medication that is also effective against roundworms and hookworms as prescribed by your vet.

Deworming Nursing Dams

* Treat her concurrently with the puppies.

Deworming Newly Acquired Pets

* Assuming the dog is in good health, worm them immediately, after 2 weeks have passed, and then follow all recommendations listed above.

Deworming Adult Dogs

* Treat these dogs regularly for preventive reasons. Monitor and eliminate any kind of parasites in your pet’s environment.

Dog Deworming Schedule

Later on, as the puppy matures, it is a very good idea to put the puppy on a heartworm preventive medication that is also effective in treating hookworms, roundworms and other types of worms.

Just so you’ll know, infected puppies will shed roundworm and hookworm larvae continuously in their feces. Later on, if the puppy happens to dig or play around in the same area where they pooped previously, they will then reinfect themselves. It is very good to know that roundworms and hookworms can be treated easily enough with a good quality overall dewormer.

If your puppy or dog lives in an area where exposure to various kinds of worms is very high it is a good idea to deworm your dog or puppy every three to six months throughout it’s life just because. Also, it is important if your dog eats poop from ANY kind of any animal that it should also be treated for hookworms, roundworms and tapeworms as often as every three months.

There are many other kinds of worms that your dog may become infected with such as whip worms and the like. To know exactly what kind of worm infestation your dog or puppy has, you will need to take your pet (or at least a stool sample from it) to the vet for a fecal exam.

If you have a puppy or dog and have not wormed it in some time please consult your vet for more information about deworming your dog. If you’d like you can follow the suggested worming schedule listed above. As always, please contact your vet with any questions that you may have concerning the entire deworming process and your dog.

Top Philippine Banks For Ofw

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A bank account is very important for OFW since it will be the account where the money will be sent from abroad. Opening a new bank account can be hard since you do not know which bank is the best for your criteria. There are really many banks in the Philippines so selecting one is not easy. In this article, you can learn which bank to use to send money to the Philippines.

1. Banco de Oro

Last year, Banco de Oro or commonly known as BDO held the highest portion of OFW remittances so it was named by Central Bank o f the Philippines as the No.1 bank of OFW remittance. BDO has services that it exclusively offer to OFW and their relatives like the Kabayan savings account with only P50 initial deposit with no maintaining balance as long it will be used for remittance. Just like other banks, BDO has Internet banking, phone, mobile and ATM banking across the country.

2. BPI

Recently, Finance Asia awarded Bank of the Philippine Islands as the best bank in the country for cash management in 2009. BPI is my choice bank for sending money to the Philippines. It has the best care fo its customer and very quick in responding to their client’s needs.

3. Metrobank

Metrobank is a famousr bank in the Philippines and listed as a public company in the Philippine Stock Exchange. Last year, it belongs to the top five remittance bank of OFW. It has a wide network of branches not only in the Philippines but also in other countries like US, European countries, Korea and Middle East countries. Many OFW likes Metrobank because of its good customer service and plenty of branches all over the country.

4. Chinabank

ChinaBank ranks fourth as the largest universal bank in the Philippines by market capitalization. It is a member of BancNet, a famous bank organization in the Phlippines. Chinabank has many services through its 388 ATM and 248 branches across the country. One good benefit of using Chinabank is you can transfer money to other bank members of BancNet with just small transfer charge.

5. Union Bank of the Philippines

In the Philippines, Union Bank ranks seventh in the largest banks in terms of assets. It is a public bank listed in Philippine Stock Exchange. Union Bank is a partnership among the companies and government institution in the country. With its wide range of services, many people and OFW find Union Bank a good choice for banking and remittance purposes. You can send money to the Philippines using Union Bank by PayPal, through remittance partners and by bank to bank wire transfer.

Choosing a bank for remittance purposes depends on your needs. Almost all banks offer same services but you need to determine those which are customer-oriented and responds to client’s problems quickly.