GCC wealth growth gives private banking robust opportunities

Since 2010, the GCC market has doubled its total private wealth from $1.1 trillion to $2.2 trillion for an overall compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.5 per cent, making it an even more lucrative market for local and global private bankers, according to a study by management consultancy Strategy&. Most of the region’s private wealth resides in Saudi Arabia (44 per cent), but the UAE has made notable gains with its share of the GCC’s private wealth increasing from 24 per cent to 30 per cent from 2009 to 2013. Together, Saudi Arabia and the UAE control 74 per cent of the region’s private wealth, up from 71 per cent in 2009. The study reveals that geopolitical events also intensified the migration of new wealth to the region.