Wealth & Investment Summit 2025

Overview

The region is now firmly acknowledged as a global hub for wealth and investment. Indeed, two of the GCC’s nations are among the globe’s top ten wealth booking centres and are well set on the road to joining the world leaders.

As the market for providing services to HNWIs from our region, and those relocating to and/or investing here continues to grow, so too are those specialised services providers and financial institutions establishing their business here, or dedicating significantly more of their resources, skills and personnel to ensure they benefit from this growth.

Contributing to this expansion is the increasing application of technology and AI to the market, fuelled by its widespread adoption across retail banking and asset management and the desire to serve the upcoming younger wealth inheriting generations who have grown up with digital environments.

The long-established tradition of SMEs and family businesses here is now fizzing with creativity and growth, recognoised as vital to regional economies, well encouraged by governments and enjoying easier banking experiences, all adding to the pool of emerging and existing clients for family offices, private banks and providers of wealth management services.

So, the question is no longer whether the region will become a leading centre for wealth management and investment, we already have that answer. The questions now are how much the regional wealth market will grow, what are its numerous strengths and attractions, can the region provide the skilled personal and what role will our region now play in the development and influencing of wealth management here and around the world?

Agenda

Thursday, 06 November 2025
The Ritz-Carlton Hotel, JBR Dubai UAE

08:00 - 09:00 Registration & Networking

09:00 - 09:05 Opening Note

09:05 - 09:15 Welcome Note

09:15 - 09:30 Keynote Address

09:30 - 10:15 Panel 1: Planning for the Future - Successful Succession

Numerous providers of succession services operate in our region with instruments and options for safely carrying a cherished legacy to future generations. However, a recent high profile succession dispute, leading to the Government of Dubai taking control of a major local business has emphatically highlighted the worrying lack of succession planning that still haunts the regional wealth market. Given the well documented, enormous regional transfer of wealth across generations taking place at this time and the increasing number of successful start-ups and family businesses, what are families doing in response to their growing awareness of the absolute necessity of thorough, successfully coordinated and cast-iron succession planning?

10:15 - 10:30 PRESENTATION

10:30 - 11:15 Panel 2: Family of the Future – Key Concerns and Future Priorities for Regional Family Office

The family office sector keeps growing across our region as the drivers of this growth continue to fall into place, but just how robust is this? How are family office businesses managing in the regions’ highly competitive environment? Are emerging family leaders successfully balancing tradition with innovation to avoid costly conflicts and how can family officers navigate their charges through such sensitive issues? What might be the effect of ongoing geopolitical stresses and uncertainty, and how do concerns for this factor in families’ investments and capital allocations? What currently are the top priorities and the leading concerns for the future for family offices and the families they serve?

11:15 - 11:45 COFFEE BREAK

11:45 - 12:00 PRESENTATION

12:00 - 12:45 Panel 3: Present in the Future– The Technology of Wealth Management

What can the HNWIs of our region expect to encounter and what can they reasonably demand in terms of uniquely provided and bespoke services from technology as it levels the playing field and provides similar opportunities to broader consumer classes? What also are the main financial technology concerns of HNWIs in our region – cybersecurity and resilience, fraud or achieving the best results from AI led investing? How can financial institutions and family offices best serve the specific needs of the region’s HNWIs with technology while also maintaining their special relationships, and how has their journey to digital maturity developed in the past few years?

12:45 - 13:00 PRESENTATION

13:00 - 14:00 LUNCH

14:00 - 14:45 Panel 4: A Better Future – Philanthropy, Ethics and Yield

Philanthropy is a serious consideration for wealthy families in our region – why is this? And given this, what are the main philanthropic motivations and beneficiaries of the HNWIs of the region as newer generations build or inherit wealth? What role does Islamic Banking have, or will grow to have in shaping philanthropy beyond its inbuilt ethical codes? Is addressing the causes of societal struggles gaining more attention than funding the symptoms and if so, where and how will HNWIs financial power and influence be deployed to improve societal conditions? Can investments with direct philanthropic outcomes ever be a high-yielding activity, and if so what and how? As more of the world’s rich migrate to the region from other cultures, will the proportion of wealth dedicated to philanthropy here increase or decrease?

14:45 - 15:30 Panel 5: Investing in the Future – Which Asset Classes Will Stay, Which Are Coming,

From where will the best performance come in the future and which alternative investments show the most potential upside? Will it be private credit with its liquidity and high yields? Is AI, quite apart from its use in the business, a promising asset class in its own right? Real estate is likely to remain strong across the region, but which of its verticals will lead in this market and what investment options will perform best – REITS, tokenisation, purchase? Will areas such as infrastructure with its stable returns be more favoured or will crypto currencies gain a bigger part of HNWI portfolios? What does the future hold for alternative investments in our region?

15:30 - 16:00 COFFEE BREAK

16:00 - 16:15 Presentation

16:15 - 17:00 Panel 6: Generations of the Future

The "Great Wealth Transfer" is happening as baby boomers and other generations transfer assets and wealth to their heirs to some estimated values of $85 trillion globally by 2045. For the GCC the estimated figure being transferred by 2030 is at least US$1 trillion. What will these inheritors - the clients and consumers of private banking and wealth management be expecting of their service providers in the future? How will the private banking market in the region retain its special privileges as technology levels the playing field for all financial services customers. Who or what will be doing the heavy lifting in terms of managing portfolios, families, succession and legacies, and how will the regional wealth management landscape appear after AI has managed the market for a few decades?

17:00 - 17:05 CLOSING REMARKS

Speakers

Ali Nanji Regional Director, Sales & Strategic Accounts Middle EastBackbase
Amit Malhotra Global Head of Retail Banking / Chairman ADIMAC and ADIB Securities / Board Member ADIB CapitalADIB
Anita Gupta Chief Investment OfficerWealthbrix Capital Partners Limited
Bryan Stirewalt Executive AdvisorGrant Thornton
Christiane El Habre Regional Managing Director - Middle EastApex Group
Dr. Dharmesh Bhatia Director, Advisory and Product Solutions Wealth ManagementEmirates Investment Bank
Faisal Hasan Chief Investment Officer & Head of Asset ManagementAl Mal Capital
Farzad Billimoria Managing Director, Head of Private BankingBarclays Private Bank
George Hojeige Chief Executive OfficerVirtuzone
Hazem Ayoub Head of Investments, Private BankingMashreq
Ismael Hajjar PartnerPwC
Jonathan P. Noble PartnerAMERELLER
Lata Swaminathan Senior Director, Private BankingMashreq
Leevyn Isabel Commercial Director - Middle EastOcorian
Leo Charitos Senior Wealth PlannerLGT (Middle East) Ltd.
Maher Al Kaabi Advisor to Group Chairman and Independent Board Member | UAE Circular Economy Council MemberAl Serkal Group of Companies
Mehreen Nadir Senior Vice President, Client StrategistBNY Wealth
Mohammed Wassim Khayata Chief Executive OfficerMbank
Nina Auchoybur Country HeadOcorian
Niraj Naetsawan General Manager and Head of Middle Eastadditiv
Patryk Karczewski Partner and Head of TaxAMERELLER TAX
Rishi Patel Chief Executive OfficerInterpolitan Money
Sriranga Sampathkumar Global Head of SalesInfosys Finacle
Sudarshan Seshadri Head of Retail BankingNational Bank of Umm Al Quwain
Tommaso Leodari Chief Investment OfficerIndex & Cie
Vipul Kapur Managing Director, Head of Private BankingMashreq
Yasmine Omari Head, Family Office and Wealth AdvisoryBank of Singapore, DIFC branch
Zubin Muriya Executive AdvisorVelthRad