Citi Private Bank inaugurates new office in Abu Dhabi

Housed at the landmark Al-Bateen C1 Tower next to the UAE Central Bank Headquarters, the new Abu Dhabi office supports CPB's footprint in the Middle East wealth management market.

For Citi, a world leader in wealth management with over $1.8 trillion in assets under management, Abu Dhabi is among its three offices serving the fast-growing Middle East wealth management market.

Citi Private Bank also has offices in Bahrain and Dubai serving these clients.

'Our expansion in Abu Dhabi is timely. There is much wealth creation in the Gulf region thanks to the robust, diversified economies as well as higher energy prices. Also, we are increasingly witnessing a growing appetite among the region's high net worth clientele for more sophisticated and innovative investment opportunities, locally and globally,' said Deepak Sharma, Chief Executive Officer, Citi Global Wealth Management - International.

'Citi's track record and intellectual capabilities globally would appeal to clients seeking wealth management advice and execution of international standards. Through our office in Abu Dhabi and elsewhere in the region, we are able to bring to the doorstep of our Middle East clients capabilities and solutions in wealth management that are best-in-class globally,' he said.

The new office opening occurred on the heels of the Leaders in Abu Dhabi (LIAD) conference (25 May), which brought together some of the world's most influential thought leaders for a one-day conference on leadership, including Garry Kasparov, General Wesley Clark, Marcus Buckingham and Simon Woodroffe.

The Citi Private Bank is a Founding Sponsor of LIAD.

'Citi has been in the Middle East for more than 50 years, represented in capital markets and banking as well as consumer banking. Through partnership with the gamut of Citi businesses in the region, we will be able to cover not only our clients' personal and family wealth management, but also the investments needs of our clients' businesses. This holistic approach is an advantage we can bring to bear in our client relationships' said Mr. Sharma.

Mohammed Al-Shroogi, Managing Director for the Middle East and Chief Executive Officer for Citi in the UAE, said: 'Our unique strategy of developing a robust onshore holistic banking platform, as well as moving global and regional product heads to the UAE in order to leverage Citi's product offerings efficiently, will allow us to meet the increasingly complex needs of our Middle East clients and capture a larger slice of the emerging wealth management market in the region.'

Citi has been in the Arab World for nearly 50 years and continues to view the region as critical to its global franchise.

It is currently present in ten Arab countries including Egypt, UAE, Lebanon, Jordan, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait.

Industry data shows that the Middle East was the fastest growing region in the world last year in terms of private wealth creation, with individual assets under management expanding by nearly one-third to reach $1 trillion.

The number of high net worth individuals (those with at least $1mi in net assets) in the Middle East rose by one-tenth to 300,000.

The Citi Private Bank believes that both Assets Under Management and the number of HNWIs in the Middle East will grow annually in double-digit percentage terms in the short to medium term.