Marwan Hadi of Emirates NBD, Senior Executive Vice President and Group Head of Retail Banking and Wealth Management, Emirates NBD, shares how the bank assists its private banking clients in investment decision-making
Emirates NBD Private Banking addresses the diverse needs of its customers through its global investment solutions. How you do this?
As one of the largest financial institutions in the GCC and the flagship bank of Dubai, we at Emirates NBD Private Banking offer clients personalised advice on the various stages of investment decision-making. In doing so, we help them by understanding their true investment objectives and constructing investment portfolios that meet their needs. Emirates NBD Private Banking’s Advisory Services places its clients at the heart of decision-making, offering best-in-class investment strategies, while utilising an open architecture product offering, to bring those strategies to life.
Notably, Emirates NBD Private Banking’s international reach, via well-regulated offshore booking centres in London, Singapore and Saudi Arabia, is strategically important in allowing us to offer our clients diversified portfolio strategies for their wealth.
Our approach to advising clients on their investments follows a systematic process that involves a thorough understanding of their needs, a portfolio constructed with carefully selected products, periodic reporting and regular rebalancing
Our approach to advising clients on their investments follows a systematic process that involves a thorough understanding of their needs, a portfolio constructed with carefully selected products, periodic reporting and regular rebalancing. Our investment approach includes Asset Allocation: Our advisory teams, along with the CIO office, offer global multi-asset portfolios differentiated according to our clients’ risk profile. Subsequently, bespoke investment solutions are devised for clients with specific requirements. We rely on our robust analytical and open architecture framework for global asset allocation based on fundamental and quantitative analysis of different asset classes, themes, sectors and geographies.
Client profiling: A detailed client profiling aims to understand each client’s current and future cash flow needs as well as their risk appetite, restrictions and personal preferences to be able to develop the ideal portfolio to suit their investment profile.
Portfolio construction: A well-diversified portfolio is constructed using a core of carefully selected instruments, including mutual funds complemented by bonds/sukuks, single stocks, structured products, alternative investments and FX and commodities solutions for enhanced returns on investments. Tailored advisory mandates are then created based on client requirements and preferences including income, growth or balanced portfolios.
Review and rebalancing: A dedicated investment advisor periodically reviews a client’s portfolio and compares its performance against the benchmark and risk parameters. Considering the latest tactical asset allocation, their advisor will then discuss suggestions for rebalancing, to achieve optimal portfolio performance.
How does Emirates NBD Private Banking assist UHNW clients with their trust and estate planning requirements?
Emirates NBD Private Banking offers tailored trust and estate planning solutions to discerning clients through our Emirates NBD Trust Company in Jersey (Channel Islands). Regulated to the highest international standards, we continue to demonstrate our commitment to highly personalised attention, advice and expertise.
Our services include estate planning, trust services, and succession planning to ensure that the next generation is fully equipped to manage their personal wealth, while respecting the legacy left behind. We assist in constructing astute wealth plans and structures that can be tailored to meet each client’s own as well as their family’s specific circumstances. A variety of foundation structures are being implemented in both DIFC and ADGM to hold real estate, trading companies, and investments. We also help clients establish their UAE foundations, which can assist with asset protection and privacy.
As technology continues to transform wealth management, how does Emirates NBD Private Banking maintain a balance between the digital and the personal?
In today’s wealth management back office, digitalisation has become the norm rather than the exception, while front-office operations continue to tread a fine line between the digital and the personal touch.
Investors are showing an increasing respect for wealth advisors who can deploy technology to personalise their service. According to a report by EY, as many as 37 per cent of the mass affluent population prefers to engage with their wealth advisors mainly through digital platforms. At the other end of the spectrum, however, only 6 per cent of the UHNWI – those with investible wealth of more than $30 million – depend entirely on digital tools. However, as many as 57 per cent of these would rather have a combination of digital and personal interaction with their advisors.
The answer lies in using technology as an enabler rather than as an end in itself. While being digital first demonstrates a commitment to innovation, being customer first is the differentiator.
We, at Emirates NBD Private Banking, have continued to be a leader in digitalisation and innovation in the region. Through our relationship managers we encourage our traditional clients to make the shift to our digital banking channels, namely our enhanced mobile banking app, online banking and tablet banking platforms for timely, convenient services like trading in global equities, transfers, FX transactions and so on.
We also provide consolidated 360-degree views of the clients’ holdings and real-time access to their portfolio account/s via our digital banking platforms. Features such as tailor-made reports, data and astute analytics on portfolio deviations, enable our investment advisors to increase client engagement and advisory trades.
At Emirates NBD, client experience is key and customer-centricity along with a tailored banking experience are exceedingly important for us. We are focused on creating differentiated customer experiences that set benchmark standards in the region.
