HUBBIS WEALTH SOLUTIONS FORUM - Dubai 2022

Hubbis is delighted to have hosted our inaugural Wealth Solutions Forum in Dubai in September 2022.

These are some of the topics covered at the event:

• How is the UAE positioning itself as a wealth management centre?
• Working and Living in the UAE
• Wealth Structuring Trends
• Middle East and Asia – complementary or competing?
• UHNW Business Families – exploring the options in this region
• The needs of wealthy Families legacy and succession planning
• Residency & Citizenship – Tracking Key Trends
• How to have a conversation with clients around sensitive family issues
• New tax developments of relevance to you and your clients
• The potential role of HNW insurance in the mix
• What are the practical considerations for HNW clients in wealth protection and transfer?

Overview of the Event

The powers that be, the regulators and the private sector participants overseeing and operating in the UAE’s wealth management markets clearly all want the region to provide a world-class wealth management offering for HNW and UHNW international clients, and at the same time wants to attract more of them and their families to reside in the Emirates.

The infrastructure and facilities are there and improving all the time. Nevertheless, although progress has been made in the wealth industry in recent years, there are realistically still many advances needed before the region can emulate other leading offshore and midshore centres, for example those most directly comparable in Asia, namely Singapore or Hong Kong.

Accordingly, there are many key developments and much greater diversification needed in the private sector participants to more fully set the wealth solutions industry on the road to realise its full potential.

The banking and financial sector, for example, needs to become fit for the modern world; right now, it is rather limited and outmoded. More global brand-name asset management and life insurance players need to be represented and active. And there is no doubt that the quality of advice on investments, wealth structuring, and estate planning & solutions must improve; hence there is a growing emphasis on higher professional standards and skills, and on the expansion of the products and solutions the wealth industry can offer in order to keep their private clients engaged and to draw more international HNW and UHNW clients to the region.

Is the UAE on the right track to achieving some or all of those goals? Yes, according to the speakers on the five panel discussion and in the four special presentations that took place at the Hubbis Middle East Wealth Solutions Forum in Dubai on September 20.

A special word of thanks to our 23 expert speakers and the more than 200 delegates who attended from the region, from Asia and from further afield in Europe and the US.

And of course, thanks to our partners for the event, who were: 1291 Group, British and Malayan Trustees Limited, Henley & Partners, Saxo Bank, Trident Trust, and Utmost Wealth Solutions.

Content Highlights

Photos
Content summary
 

Panel Discussions 

Panel Discussion - How is the UAE positioning itself as a wealth management centre?

Leading Legal Expert in Dubai Explains how the UAE’s Star is Rising and why Solutions Must be Bespoke and Tailored
Alastair Glover, Partner - Private Wealth, Trowers & Hamlins

Panel Discussion - Working and Living in the UAE

Leading Lawyer Sunita Singh-Dalal on the UAE’s Evolution as an Increasingly Prominent Global Wealth & Lifestyle Hub
Sunita Singh-Dalal, Partner, Private Client & Family Offices, Hourani & Partners

Panel Discussion - Wealth Structuring Trends in the UAE

Tim Denton of Habib Bank on the Evolution of ‘Mature’ Wealth Structuring in the Middle East
Tim Denton TEP, Executive Vice President, Head of Wealth Structuring, Habib Bank AG Zurich

FAME Advisory Expert Nirav Dinesh Kumar Shah Surveys the UAE’s Growing Wealth Structuring Expertise
Nirav Dinesh Kumar Shah, Founder and Managing Director, FAME Advisory

Singapore-based Lawyer Tan Woon Hum Surveys Trends in Estate & Legacy Structuring in the UAE
Tan Woon Hum, Partner, Head of Trust, Asset & Wealth Management Practice, Shook Lin & Bok

Panel Discussion - Middle East and Asia – complementary or competing?

The Middle East and Asia in Wealth Management - Collaboration or Competition?
Nikolaos Koutsoukos, Chief Executive Officer - DIFC Representative Office, SingAlliance

Panel Discussion - UHNW Business Families – exploring the options in this region

BNY Family Office Expert Shadi Alnasr Reviews the Expanding Range of Solutions for UHNW Business Families in the UAE
Shadi Alnasr, Principal – Global Family Office, The Bank of New York Mellon

Legal Expert Izabella Szadkowska Reviews the Expanding Range of Solutions for UHNW Business Families in the UAE
Izabella Szadkowska, Partner, Corporate Structuring, Al Tamimi & Company

Multi-Family Office Entrepreneur and Founder Arjun Mittal Explains why the UAE is Prospering as a Family Wealth Centre
Arjun Mittal, Founder & CIO, Abbey Road Investment Group

Presentations 

How can a Wealth Protection Plan help you navigate the many challenges today?
Marc-André Sola, Founder & Chairman, 1291 Group
View video of presentation
1291 Group Chairman on the Value of PPLI as the Most Effective Wealth Planning Tool Available Today

Expatriate Tax Planning - Mitigating Re-Entry Shock
Brendan Harper, Head of Asia and UHNW Technical Services, Utmost Wealth Solutions
View video of presentation
How do you Mitigate Re-Entry Shock for Expatriates Returning from the UAE to their Home Countries?

UAE continues to attract private wealth clients and advisers
Philippe Amarante, Managing Partner, Henley & Partners
View video of presentation
Henley & Partners’ Head of Dubai & Pakistan Reports on why the UAE is so Attractive for Private Wealth Clients and Advisors

DIFC Foundations – Succession planning for the next generation
Dave Lange, General Manager & Senior Executive Officer, Trident Trust
View video of presentation
DIFC Foundations and their Role in Robust Succession Planning for the UAE’s Next Generations