Two months ago, in a survey, five in 10 UAE citizens said they plan to use cryptocurrencies within the next year. And 63 per cent admitted they are more open to using them now than they were a year ago. This came as no surprise. The Middle East has established itself as a global hub for innovation in financial technology, due in large part to the policies framed by regulators in the UAE who understand that the world is increasingly adopting cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.
This progressive approach for fostering innovation has been a major influence for blockchain startups setting up in Abu Dhabi. Regarding it as the “Fourth Industrial Revolution”, the UAE government is a leading advocate of blockchain technology. In 2018, in order to advance this adoption, the UAE launched the Emirate’s Blockchain Strategy 2021, essentially creating a deadline for migrating at least 50 per cent of all government transactions onto decentralised technology.
In 2018, the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) introduced a framework for operating crypto asset businesses that, with continuous engagement and refinement, represents an attractive and permissive regulatory apparatus. This has allowed Abu Dhabi to become an attractive jurisdiction for blockchain, fintech, and crypto companies, both large and small. For example, the FSRA is one of the first regulators in the world to recognise stablecoins and define fiat tokens, with the Digital Asset Exchange receiving the green light for operations under that formulation.
The substantial government resources that have been brought to bear on financial technology innovation have created tremendous opportunities to develop businesses and have encouraged a vibrant entrepreneurial spirit. This is evident throughout the community of the ADGM.
Home to world-renowned universities, the education system of Abu Dhabi includes the NYU Abu Dhabi campus as well as Khalifa University, recognised as the top university in the UAE. Many graduates of these institutions have gone on to contribute to cutting-edge technological developments such as blockchain and artificial intelligence, helping to make Abu Dhabi a leader in global innovation.
Supported by Abu Dhabi’s Ghadan 21 stimulus programme, the Hub71 accelerator community in ADGM has succeeded in attracting 102 startups to Abu Dhabi. Additionally, data from a startup platform showed that the UAE led the Middle East region in investment growth by number of deals and funding in the first half of this year, and that fintech startups closed the most number of deals.
Abu Dhabi Catalyst Partners Limited is another advocate for distributed ledger technology – a digital decentralised infrastructure – that drives innovation. Additionally, Fintech Abu Dhabi, Mena’s leading fintech festival, is an event that attracts investors and entrepreneurs to the region. Clearly, the regulatory landscape in the ADGM is a driving force behind the Middle East’s growth as a crypto and blockchain innovation hub.
For citizens, the level of digital transformation in payments has had tangible effects, leading to changes in consumer behaviour. Recent research from the online portal Fintech News Middle East showed that 2020 saw an increase in digital payments and a rise in fintech companies based in the UAE; 134 fintechs have their headquarters in the country. The majority of these are companies focused on payment/e-wallet, blockchain and cryptocurrency.
It is apparent that there is a strong appetite for crypto and financial innovation in the region. In the UAE alone, over the past two years, the total value of digital payment transactions has more than doubled and reached $18.5 billion in 2020.
In addition to a positive regulatory approach, the pandemic resulted in people's openness to digital payments. The survey that found half of UAE citizens amenable to using cryptocurrencies next year also showed that two-thirds of UAE respondents had, over the course of the pandemic, tried a new payment method they would not have used under normal circumstances. So the role of how the pandemic changed behaviour cannot be understated.
There are other factors too – such as regulatory pragmatism, investor protection and tax incentives – that have helped enormously to create ADGM’s optimal framework for investment and blockchain and crypto innovation. Abu Dhabi’s ecosystem has played a critical part in digital transformation so far, and clearly, it shows no signs of slowing down.
John Hensel is co-founder and chief operating officer of Securrency, a technology firm, and is based in Abu Dhabi
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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.”
What is a robo-adviser?
Robo-advisers use an online sign-up process to gauge an investor’s risk tolerance by feeding information such as their age, income, saving goals and investment history into an algorithm, which then assigns them an investment portfolio, ranging from more conservative to higher risk ones.
These portfolios are made up of exchange traded funds (ETFs) with exposure to indices such as US and global equities, fixed-income products like bonds, though exposure to real estate, commodity ETFs or gold is also possible.
Investing in ETFs allows robo-advisers to offer fees far lower than traditional investments, such as actively managed mutual funds bought through a bank or broker. Investors can buy ETFs directly via a brokerage, but with robo-advisers they benefit from investment portfolios matched to their risk tolerance as well as being user friendly.
Many robo-advisers charge what are called wrap fees, meaning there are no additional fees such as subscription or withdrawal fees, success fees or fees for rebalancing.
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
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