MENA funds see encouraging growth (by IFN)

MENA funds see encouraging growth

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GLOBAL: Middle East and North Africa (MENA) domiciled fund assets increased by 3% to US$89.6 billion from the end of 2011 to the first half of 2012. The increase, according to the recently published MENA Asset Management Survey 2012 report, was attributed to a US$3.33 billion increase in money market fund assets in the Shariah compliant and conventional sectors. Trade finance funds also saw net inflows of US$564 million, while equity fund assets saw a dismal 2.9% drop, with net outflows of US$590 million. The survey also added that the largest four funds in the MENA region comprised of money market funds. The survey also noted that the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) saw its assets under management reach AED31.59 billion (US$8.6 billion) as at the end of September 2012, with Shariah compliant assets constituting US$145 million of the total amount. It also added that out of the 45 locally domiciled funds, 10 were Shariah compliant. Speaking to the press, Giyas Gokkent, group chief economist at the National Bank of Abu Dhabi commented: “We believe that the asset management sector has significant potential in the GCC and UAE, in particular, and expect growing sophistication in the sector with a wider array of products and services to cater for retail and institutional demand. There also are a large number of third party foreign funds that asset managers also market. Asset management companies also manage portfolios on behalf of clients, but there is relatively limited publicly available information regarding the size of these portfolios.”