Khaled Balama, Governor of the Central Bank of the UAE, meets his Turkish counterpart Sahap Kavcioglu in Abu Dhabi. Photo: CBUAE
Khaled Balama, Governor of the Central Bank of the UAE, meets his Turkish counterpart Sahap Kavcioglu in Abu Dhabi. Photo: CBUAE
Khaled Balama, Governor of the Central Bank of the UAE, meets his Turkish counterpart Sahap Kavcioglu in Abu Dhabi. Photo: CBUAE
Khaled Balama, Governor of the Central Bank of the UAE, meets his Turkish counterpart Sahap Kavcioglu in Abu Dhabi. Photo: CBUAE

UAE and Turkey central banks seek further co-operation after currency swap deal


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The Central Bank of the UAE and the Central Bank of Turkey are looking to collaborate further following the signing of a bilateral currency swap agreement between the two countries in January.

Khaled Balama, Governor of CBUAE, met with his Turkish counterpart Sahap Kavcioglu in Abu Dhabi during the two-day official visit of Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the Emirates earlier this week.

The governors discussed ways to strengthen the collaboration in the financial and banking sectors, the CBUAE said on Thursday.

“The Central Bank of the UAE is keen to promote collaboration with the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey on the financial sector and to take forward the economic relations between the two countries,” Mr Balama said.

The Governor of the Central Bank of UAE met the head of the Central Bank of Turkey. Photo: CBUAE
The Governor of the Central Bank of UAE met the head of the Central Bank of Turkey. Photo: CBUAE

The bilateral currency swap agreement aims to help improve trade and investment ties between the UAE and Turkey.

The size of the agreement between the UAE dirham and the Turkish lira is Dh18 billion ($4.9bn) and 64bn Turkish lira ($4.7bn), the CBUAE said last month.

A foreign currency swap is an agreement to exchange currency between two parties, in which they swap principal and interest payments on a loan made in one currency for a loan of equal value in another currency.

The pact will remain for three years, with the possibility of an extension through mutual agreement.

The Central Bank of the UAE is keen to promote collaboration with the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey on the financial sector and to take forward the economic relations between the two countries
Khaled Mohamed Balama,
Governor, Central Bank of the UAE

The UAE and Turkey signed several agreements and protocols in various fields including health and medical sciences, sea and land transport, advanced industries and technology, climate action and culture during Mr Erdogan's first official trip to the country in almost a decade.

In November, the UAE formed a $10bn fund to support investments in Turkey, following talks between Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, and Mr Erdogan.

The investment fund aims to increase support for the Turkish economy and will focus on strategic sectors such as energy, health and food.

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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