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 HWWIs 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

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?

Faith in Your Future - Islamic Wealth Management

Sharia Wealth Management can bridge the perceived division between ethics and economic performance and as Islamic finance is grows worldwide, it follows that Sharia wealth and investment management demands the attention of investment managers across our region as growth in Shariah-compliant funds, sukuk, takaful and tailored private banking solutions for HNWIs expand. How fast and at what scale in the Islamic wealth market growing here and globally, and are the skilled personnel in place here to meet demand for Sharia wealth services? As prosperity increases bringing newer generations of wealthy into the market, could Islamic Wealth Management rival or even surpass conventional options in the region?

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?

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?

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? 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?

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?

Previous Speakers

Abdallah Baassiri Senior International Private WealthPWC
Amer Malik Head of Middle East InternationalLombard Odier
Anita Gupta Head of Equity StrategyEmirates NBD
Biju Thomas Senior Director & Head of Family OfficesMashreq Private Banking
Bryan Stirewalt Financial Services Regulatory LeaderEY
Christiane El Habre Regional Managing DirectorApex Group
Daniel George Head of Business - Middle EastSt. James’s Place
Deepak Mehra Chief EconomistCommercial Bank of Dubai
Devika Raveendran Founder & CEODR Partners
Ekta Tolani Chief Investment OfficerKBW Ventures
Faisal Hasan Chief Investment Officer & Head of Asset ManagementAl Mal Capital
Farzad Billimoria Managing Director, Senior Executive Officer & Head - Private BankingHSBC
George Hojeige Chief Executive OfficerVirtugroup
Ismael Hajjar PartnerPwC Middle East
Jaspreet Randhawa Head of InvestmentsBurkhan World Investments
Khulood Ebrahim Real Assets Product SpecialistInvestcorp
Leevyn Isabel Commercial Director - Middle EastOcorian
Lixia Zhu Managing Director76Columbus Family Office
Maher Al Kaabi Advisor to Group Chairman and Independent Board Member | UAE Circular Economy Council MemberAl Serkal Group
Michel Sarfati Head of Global Private Banks & Family Offices SalesFirst Abu Dhabi Bank FAB
Mohamed Fairooz Middle East LeadSC Ventures
Nabil Ismail Executive DirectorGulf Capital
Neelam Verma Advisory Committee MemberSecura International
Niels Zilkens Head of Wealth ManagementUBS
Niraj Naetsawan General Manager and Head of Middle EastAdditiv
Patrick Armstrong Chief Investment OfficerPlurimi
Ramzy Rasamny Executive ChairmanPlurimi
Saad Osseiran Head of Private Bank for Middle EastDeutsche Bank
Safa Bouzidi Managing Director of Wealth & Asset ManagementDaman Investments
Shadi AlNasr Director, Client Strategist - Global Family OfficeBNY Wealth
Shadi Hittini Head of Wealth ManagementAjman Bank
Taimur Satti Senior Executive Officer, DubaiPlurimi
Vipul Kapur Head of Private BankingMashreq Private Banking
Vipul Malhan Senior DirectorMashreq Private Banking
Yann Mrazek Managing DirectorM/HQ
Zubin Muriya Executive DirectorJulius Baer