Cover Story

— Hassaim Arabi, Shuaa Asset Managememt

Awash with liquidity, GCC members are investing in the wider Middle East and North Africa region and even looking towards India and the far East. Peter Guest reports.

From the 51st floor of the Emirates Hotel Tower in Dubai, guests can see how close they are to the desert. Directly below is a single line of skyscrapers. In their shadow is a rough spread of low-rise, sand-coloured houses, and behind that, nothing.

Cover Story

— Dr Mahmoud Mohieldin, Egypt’s Minister of Investment

Nat Mankelow talks to Egyptian Minster of Investment, Dr Mahmoud Mohieldin, about aims to promote and establish the country as a location for financial services.

Dr Mahmoud Mohieldin, Egypt’s Minister of Investment, has much to occupy his working day. There is a serious bread shortage in the country, a situation caused by high wheat prices worldwide and persisting despite a government subsidy.

The Chief

— Andreas Utermann, RCM CIO

RCM CIO Andreas Utermann tells Henry Smith why he favours riskier assets for long-term liabilities, about the “Grassroots” network, and his disappointment at the take-up of 130/30.

Pension funds with long-term liabilities should not dismiss index-benchmarked equity investing as yesterday’s news. According to Andreas Utermann, global CIO of RCM, the $168bn (€109bn) active equity arm of Allianz Global Investors, the promotion of outcome-oriented investment products as a universal funding panacea, fails to recognise that younger pension schemes might be better advised to have a high weighting in equities.

Bender Agenda

— Luqman Arnold, ex-chief executive UBS

It seemed like a good idea at the time, but the single, integrated structure is now being questioned by many banking and investment groups.

The single, integrated, banking structure - trail-blazed by leading US bank Citigroup after its purchase of Sandy Weill’s Travelers insurance business ten years ago - has taken something of a battering in recent months.

From the Editor

A recent survey by Mercer, the investment consultants, reveals that European pension funds are paying greater attention to risk management. It’s an encouraging trend, especially in this time of market turbulence.