Dubai: Dubai as a global financial centre would help its ambition to grow and make available all the finances for itself and regionally, a senior official at the CFA Institute told Gulf News.
Dubai, Qatar have been climbing up the ranks as the global financial centre arena competing with other centres like London, New York.
“There is an intense competition. Dubai of course is well ahead. It will become even more difficult to stand out as a financial centre for global players. Dubai is already doing so much, which is positive, in terms of infrastructure to become a leading financial centre. But there are more things to be done,” said Nitin Mehta, managing director EMEA.
Given Dubai’s ambitions to continue to grow, and those ambitions need to be funded, so having a deep sophisticated and robust capital markets would allow those projects to get funded, he said.
They can finance the real economy not only for Dubai for others as well. The physical infrastructure that has been built provides for a lot of economic development and also to provide lifestyle that will attract the best talent, he added.
Regulatory environment:
Human capital and regulatory environment are vital ingredients for success of the financial market centre.
If Dubai becomes a global centre the advantages are obvious there will be a lot of capital available for growth for economic development diversification. There would be a lot of employment, Mehta said.
“The other thing has done is to put in place a good regulatory environment. We have a level of stability and trust in that regulation. It provides due protection for participants. It also has put in place technical infrastructure as well,” said Mehta.
“This is not only for Dubai for others as well. I think the corporate governance can still be improved. The rights of minority share shareholders need to be protected,” he added.
Surprise growth:
“Education is the very important part and equally important is to engage with regulators and policymakers to make sure that financial markets are efficient from economic point of view,” Mehta added.
China and India is the biggest source of growth for the CFA Institute. There are 120,000 Chartered Financial Analysts worldwide, and it has 220,000 candidates for this year’s CFA program. In the MENA region, it has 1,000 members and 3,000 candidates for this year’s CFA program.
“We now have far more candidates from outside of North America,” Mehta said.
The CFA Emirates Society is an association of local investment professionals consisting of portfolio managers, investment advisers, educators and other financial professionals. Large organisations such as Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), Mubadala, Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX) are key employers of CFA charter holders in the UAE.
