|
|
Home  The Gulf in The Press Bahrain 'poised to become funds hub'
|
Bahrain 'poised to become funds hub' |
|
|
|
|
Thursday, 01 November 2007 |
Gulf Daily News-Bahrain is poised to become the regional centre for the investment funds business - thanks to the innovative regulatory practices of the country's central bank.
That is the verdict of an expert from the high-profile Citigroup who said changes to laws governing collective investments in the country by the Central Bank of Bahrain had not gone unnoticed by major financial institutions like his own.
Citigroup director of securities funds services in the Middle East and Africa Region (Mena) region Richard Street was speaking to GDN on the sidelines of the first-ever Fund Forum Middle East held at the Ritz Carlton Bahrain, Hotel and Spa.
"I think there is a natural direction as the region becomes much more intra-G.C.C investment happens in the region. There is going to be a natural development of the funds market, but I think there is some work to be done to ensure here is a fund centre in the same way as hugely established markets like Luxembourg, Dublin and the US," he said.
"I think we are very hopeful that the domestic funds markets in the region will kick off. I think Bahrain is very well organised to take a lead in that and I think they are hungry enough to want to become an administrative centre as well.
"Places like Qatar and even the UAE are more front office-driven, but Bahrain seems to be looking at taking on everything," he added.
In May this year, the CBB issued a new regulatory framework to govern the collective investment undertakings industry it said was designed to "spawn a home-grown industry of hedge funds and other alternative investment vehicles which have traditionally been domiciled outside the region".
The efforts of the CBB are attracting the right kind of attention from international financial institutions, Mr Street added.
"It is very well-noticed. They are a regulator but they are also wearing 'Bahrain Inc' on their cap - they are beating the drum for Bahrain. If you look at the law for collective investment undertakings, which has been rewritten it is a competitive place to do business and it has got some traction over other markets in the region," he said.
Citigroup financial institutions group managing director Jervis Smith, who had earlier chaired a panel discussion at the forum, said one of the main challenges would be finding and retaining capable staff amidst competition from rivals.
"For local firms the issue is to retain talent - we ourselves certainly find that a big challenge as we have been here for a long time. The first move other banks coming out to the region make is to try to poach our talented staff," he said.
However, the bank's experience of the region also has its advantages, he said.
"We set up operations in in Bahrain in 1969. I was talking to our country head here last night and he was explaining that if you have got a consumer banking presence and you have branches in a country then the brand awareness is much greater than it is with 'suitcase bankers' coming in to do corporate banking."
Mr Smith also said that when it came to understanding the complexities of the region's nascent fund industry it was important to have boots on the ground.
"There can be misinformed approaches to the region emanating from people sitting in New York or Boston managing assets - they don't really understand the region and they can make a lot of misconceptions about the region so I think this conference is to be applauded.
"There is a tremendous amount of momentum here, but it is a gold rush environment. There are some people who really know what they are doing here, have been here for a long time and understand the culture and the ways people do business.
"And then there are a lot of new entrants and just by their very nature some of these people are going to succeed and some are going to fail," he said.
|
|
|
