Global asset managers with more than $20 trillion in assets under management say they are committed to the UAE and the broader Middle East and are boosting their regional operations despite the Iran war.
The conflict, now in its fifth week, has tipped the region into one of its worst geopolitical crises, but the long-term economic fundamentals remain intact, with deals continuing to flow, according to global investment managers.
For BlackRock, the world’s biggest asset manager, the Middle East continues to be a “core strategic priority”, and the world’s biggest asset manager is unfazed by the current bleak geopolitical scenario.
“Our commitment to investing in the region and supporting our clients is long-term and is unchanged,” a spokesman for BlackRock, which manages more than $14 trillion in client assets, told The National.
The New York-based investment manager considers the Middle East a two-way portal of global capital flows and aims to grab a larger share of investment opportunities, its vice chairman, Philipp Hildebrand, said in December.
BlackRock’s $128 billion AUM in the Middle East is a fraction of its global asset base. The firm, which received the commercial licence to operate from Abu Dhabi’s ADGM in November last year, is rapidly building capabilities both in terms of product offerings and personnel, Mr Hildebrand said at the time.
The $5.7 trillion investment manager State Street, which has its headquarters in Boston, has neither changed its conviction nor altered its growth plans for the Middle East despite the US-Israel war on Iran, which has now engulfed the entire region.
“The current situation is neither impacting our conviction to invest in the Middle East and Africa nor our mission to be a key partner to our clients in the region,” Karine Kheirallah, head of investment strategy and research for the Middle East and Africa, told The National.
“We remain fully committed to further expanding our footprint, team and capabilities in the Middle East and Africa region and are currently in the process of recruiting additional staff in our UAE and Saudi Arabia offices.”
BlackRock and State Street are among a rapidly growing group of asset managers, insurers, financial institutions and investment houses that have either set up base in the region or are looking to consolidate their presence in the Gulf.
Dubai International Financial Centre and Abu Dhabi’s ADGM over the past few years, have emerged as preferred destinations for investors, global hedge funds and wealth advisers. ADGM, among the fastest-growing financial hubs globally, in particular, has attracted several trillion-dollar asset managers in the last couple of years.
Compelling opportunity
A UAE base provides global financial heavyweights with a compelling opportunity to expand in the broader Middle East and work closely with some of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds, as well as large family offices and institutional investors.
The UAE capital is home to the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Mubadala Investment Company and the newly created L'IMAD, which has taken control of the investment holding company ADQ.
ADGM is also home to other trillion-dollar asset managers, including PGIM, the global asset management business of Prudential Financial, and Chicago investment firm Nuveen.
Strategic priority
Dubai and Abu Dhabi have maintained a rapid pace of development as finance hubs since the Emirates bounced back strongly from the Covid-driven economic slowdown in 2020.
New company registrations in DIFC jumped 28 per cent to a record 1,924 last year as the number of wealth and asset managers exceeded 500. It was home to more than 290 banks and financial market companies at the end of December, including 102 hedge funds and more than 1,289 family-related entities.
For Swiss wealth managers, including Lombard Odier, which has been serving affluent clients, family offices and institutional investors in the Middle East for more than six decades, the region remains a “strategic priority”.
“Our presence in Dubai reflects our long-term commitment to supporting clients across the Gulf, as we continue to grow and deepen our capabilities to meet their evolving needs,” Ali Janoudi, head of new markets at Lombard Odier, told The National.
Mirabaud, another private Swiss bank, which has been serving affluent clients for more than two decades from its Dubai base, said it already has the experience of successfully navigating “multiple market cycles and crises” in the past.
“Our DIFC category 1 banking licence – one of the very few held by Swiss banks – confirms our trust in the UAE and our regional expansion objectives, as well as our long-standing commitment to the market,” Elias Ghanem, senior investment adviser at Mirabaud Middle East, said.
It is vital that wealth and asset managers remain committed and maintain a presence during extreme bouts of volatility. It not only creates unique opportunities for institutions in attracting local capital, but it also benefits clients, who in times of uncertainty increasingly turn to partners with a proven track record, Mr Ghanem said.
ADGM, like its Dubai counterpart, also recorded stellar growth last year. Total assets managed at the centre at the end of 2025 rose by 36 per cent annually. ADGM has completed a decade of operations, with 170 asset and fund managers, managing 244 funds calling it home.
A total of 347 financial institutions were based at ADGM at the end of December, 80 of which were licensed last year.
Deal momentum
Despite the uncertainty and geopolitical headwinds, global fund managers continue to set up base in the Emirates, with Hillhouse Investment Management, a $100 billion global alternative asset manager, among the latest to open an office in ADGM.
US and Israeli strikes on Iran, and Iran's attacks on its Arab neighbours, which began on February 28, have disrupted businesses and hit the travel, tourism and hospitality sectors hard.
Iran has also effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil normally passes, for all but a few ships. The choking of the vital waterway has triggered a global energy crisis, stoking fears of inflation and a slowdown in the global economy.
However, cross-border deal-making, investment flows in and out of the region and long-term capital commitments remain uninterrupted.
A unit of Abu Dhabi’s investment holding company 2PointZero, on March 31, said it has agreed to acquire a US gas infrastructure company for $2.25 billion.
ePointZero, a subsidiary of 2PointZero, is buying 100 per cent of Traverse Midstream Partners, which owns stakes in gas assets, the company said in a statement at the time to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, where its shares are traded.
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and Qatar’s sovereign fund also announced deals last month, despite the Iran war intensifying.
Although the International Monetary Fund expects the regional economies to take a hit from the conflict, the long-term fundamentals of the six-member economic bloc of GCC remain intact.
On Monday, UAE Minister for Economy and Tourism, Abdulla bin Touq, said the country's economy is resilient and can quickly rebound from the war. “The UAE is strong, a 40-day conflict will not determine the future of the UAE economy,” he said, adding that the country will “bounce back”.
Rahul Malhotra, region head of emerging markets at Julius Baer, which has offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Manama, said despite adversity and growing geopolitical headwinds, the Swiss wealth manager is fully committed to serving its clients and partners in the region. “That commitment does not waver in periods of uncertainty, and it is precisely in these moments that our role matters most,” he said.
