In February this year, the Dubai International Finance Centre (DIFC) reported its highest ever annual revenue and operating profit.

Meanwhile, in Saudi Arabia, Riyadh is focused on morphing from an oil and gas powerhouse into a business, commerce and finance hub, with experts forecasting that Saudi Arabia will become the preeminent finance hub in the Middle East within the next three years.

On the ground

This is a strong indication that key hubs in the Middle East, such as the DIFC and Riyadh, are being successful in diversifying their proposition and setting out their stalls as global players in cross-border investment.

From an international service provider perspective, it’s long been the case that centres in the Middle East have been active in the private client and family office market – but this is now broadening with investors in the region looking for increasingly sophisticated support to enable them to achieve their global investment aspirations.

At the same time, investors and family offices elsewhere in the world are looking more and more at the cross-border structuring and professional support services available through Middle East hubs like the DIFC and Riyadh to support their international ambitions too.

As local, regional and global investors increasingly put their faith in these Middle East hubs, it is our responsibility as service providers with the experience and expertise in cross-border structuring to support that trend with the same quality service and knowledge that we have applied in other markets too.

It has certainly been the message from family offices that the Middle East market is incredibly busy. Our experience on the ground is that the DIFC and Riyadh are seen as a nexus for investment into key growth markets, specifically Africa and Asia – providing a route from North to South (the UK/Europe to Africa), and from West to East (the US to Asia).

As well as the geographical positioning that plays out well for this sort of structuring opportunity, it is the tax neutral environment they provide that also lends itself perfectly to straightforward collective investment structures – an area where we are seeing particular activity at the moment amongst family offices.

Private equity and venture capital type deals are areas of particular activity, with family offices globally still sitting on significant amounts of dry powder, waiting to be allocated to the right target and put to work. The message is clear, though – it has to be the right target.

Which is why having a tried and tested route to market that can enable them to react quickly when the right opportunity comes along is so important – and the hubs in the Middle East are rising to that challenge.

As well as providing good structuring, attractive tax environments and good mechanisms for upstream investment vehicles needing neutral ground, hubs in the region are significantly enhancing their governance and regulatory frameworks and investing heavily in their hard and soft infrastructures – bolstering their regional stock exchanges, for example, to support listed fund business.

This is where there is significant opportunity for offshore vehicles in supporting the evolution of these hubs. We frequently see, for example, Jersey structures being used to complement activity in the Middle East, whilst the experience in centres like Jersey have in governance and cross border regulation is hugely prized by families and complements the work being done by advisors in the Middle East too.

As hubs in the Middle East continue to evolve and transition at pace from domestic to international centres, IFCs like Jersey can play a positive and complementary role. The fact that Jersey has been visiting the Middle East region for many years, has had a presence in the UAE since 2011 and is ramping up its visibility in Saudi Arabia, puts it in a strong position to support this trend.

The future

Both the DIFC and Riyadh have hugely ambitious but highly achievable growth plans for the years ahead.

2021 saw the approval, for instance, of the DIFC’s Strategy 2030, a new strategy that reflects the DIFC’s role in supporting sustained economic growth. It embraces new legislation relating to the expanded duties and responsibilities of the DIFC and promotes the values of efficiency, transparency and integrity, whilst also placing a real emphasis on innovation.

In Saudi Arabia meanwhile, the Vision 2030 strategy sets out an equally ambitious growth plan, with an aim to rebalance its economy, diversify into new sectors, from financial services to high-end manufacturing, tourism, entertainment and culture.

It’s clear that the Middle East, in particular the UAE and Saudi Arabia, provides significant opportunities to support family office structuring and private market cross-border investment, and the pace of change over the coming years will undoubtedly accelerate.

As a result, there are collaborative opportunities for professionals in IFCs like Jersey who are familiar with the Middle East region and who have so much experience in cross border structuring, to support that growth and achieve mutually beneficial outcomes – for IFCs like Jersey, for those hubs in the Middle East, and of course clients.

What do you think gave you the competitive edge this year?
Our focus has always been on listening to clients and colleagues to develop bespoke, tailored and appropriate best-in class solutions, and that’s definitely shone through over the past two years of disruption as we’ve looked to adapt and respond to a rapidly changing environment.
We’ve also placed a focus on managing and motivating the team. That’s been really important, especially with remote working rapidly become the norm. We’ve been agile in our approach, ensuring that colleagues are supported and engaged, being flexible to their needs. Ultimately, our people are our key differentiator, and I’ve been fortunate to have played a part in delivering our learning and development program and our return to work and agile working policy in response to the pandemic.

Describe how your colleagues make a difference to your organisation?
Our combined success is really all about investment in our people and supporting each other – recognising and respecting our strengths, enabling career progression, offering training to open up new skills development opportunities and embedding new technologies to help us support clients. Again, remaining agile has been a fundamental part of our mutual success – it encourages us to work together and ensures we are ready to respond to the changing needs of clients.

Please describe the challenges you needed to surmount to reach your standard?
Keeping the team motivated and engaged was a significant challenge over the past year or so, given the shift to remote working. Finding creative ways to bring together the team remotely was critical. From a client perspective, face to face meetings were of course not possible either, and we adopted a flexible, creative approach to keep in touch with them. The key was to be proactive and we are actually now seeing an appetite for hybrid means of communication, both in person and virtually, to suit client needs.

How did your firm react to the pandemic and what lasting changes do you expect from this period. What might not last?
We were highly responsive to the pandemic – our technology infrastructure was already in place and able to accommodate agile working. A major and lasting outcome, though, has been the heightened focus on colleague support and staff wellbeing. Those are areas where I think we will definitely see a lasting legacy.

What do you see as the prospects for wealth management in general?
The world is definitely becoming more complex and the coming years will undoubtedly bring increased layers of complication, in a regulatory and legislative sense and in terms of geopolitical disruption. This greater complexity will mean that listening to client needs will become more important than ever, particularly as they
move into areas like crypto currencies and digital assets, and as families focus more on succession and legacy planning and the needs of the next generation.

Whom do you look to for inspiration and ideas?
Our belief in the value of mentoring is really important, and I’ve been very fortunate to have had a mentor who has vast amounts of industry experience and is extremely well respected. Getting that sort of advice and guidance has been inspirational and instrumental in terms of my own progress.

What do you hope will be the result of receiving this accolade?
Recognition through these awards is essentially recognition for the team as a whole. To know that we are doing the right thing collectively for clients is really pleasing.

Tell us about the impact of your training.

Firstly, my appetite. I’ve always enjoyed my food, but the amount I’m burning through at the moment is unbelievable. I’ve also noticed that the mood I bring to training and sparring is absolutely key to my performance. If I’m not 100% focused, or my confidence is a little lower, the effect is amplified in the ring. Proof, if it were needed, of the mind’s control over the body, and something I’ll need to be on top of on the night when that bell goes.

What has this experience taught you?

The importance of resilience and tenacity. I’ve always considered myself to be fairly resilient, but a punch in the face before I’ve even had my breakfast has put that to the test. It’s pretty unnatural to walk towards danger, and your instinct instead is to say “ouch” and hope it will stop. But in the ring that won’t happen. The punches just keep coming unless you respond, and you can’t afford to stop and inspect the damage.

What advice would you give someone thinking of doing a tough physical challenge for charity?

Easy. Just do it! You’re much more likely to regret not doing it than if you just jump in with both feet.

Describe your fighting technique in one line

This is tricky as in the ring I’m still very much a work in progress. Assuming everything goes to plan though, I am aiming to be agile and make good use of my reach. I am hoping my long arms will be a big bonus, and I can punch from outside my opponent’s range.

To sponsor this challenge and support Kidney Research UK, please click here.

A member of the Crestbridge executive team, Heather also manages the US joint venture, Crestbridge Fiduciary LLC.  One of the most awarded executives in Jersey’s financial sector, Heather is a consistent feature on ePrivateclient’s Top 50 Most Influential list and in 2021 topped the Women in Wealth Management category in the WealthBriefing European Awards.

Danielle won Gold in the ‘Woman of the Year – Rising Star’ category at the Awards. The results were announced at an event in London last week (3 March).

The Awards, now in their eleventh year, are designed to recognise individuals and companies leading the way in maximising the potential of women in wealth, champion women in the wealth sector, highlight the female leaders of today and tomorrow, and create a platform for best practice to have a positive social influence on the sector.

What inspired you to take on this challenge?

I have always kept active. My main sporting interest is Stand Up Paddleboard (SUP) racing and over recent years that’s been my main focus for training. Although there are SUP races locally in Jersey, they are relatively small scale so attending larger races relies on being able to travel to places a bit further away – like France, Spain and the US.

With travel having been slightly more challenging due to the pandemic, though, I was looking for something else to work towards. This boxing event is being run by the gym I already train at, Transform Together, and the coaches were so encouraging when I said I was thinking of taking part.

Which charity are you supporting and why is it so significant to you?

I am fighting to raise money for Kidney Research UK. Paul (Pablo) Hunter, Group Co-Head of Family Office Services, suffers from kidney disease and has recently undergone kidney transplant surgery. Whilst Pablo has been incredibly stoic throughout, as his colleagues, we have all seen the huge impact this has had on Pablo’s life over the last few years as his treatment has escalated, attending regular dialysis appointments whilst on the waiting list for a suitable donor.

Knowing that this surgery was essential for Pablo’s life to return to some degree of normality and that some don’t get the transplant they so desperately need, I have chosen a charity that will provide benefit to others in Pablo’s situation. My hope is that through fundraising like this, treatments can be developed for those with kidney disease whilst research can also be undertaken with the aim of curing or ultimately preventing kidney disease.

How have you been training and preparing yourself for the event?

The training currently involves three boxing sessions per week, each an hour long, including a combination of technical and fitness training. The technical training is really starting from scratch – I’ve never boxed before – so I’ve been learning the  basics really, how to stand and move around and what the various punches are. Alongside that I am also continuing with three personal training sessions a week, which are predominantly strength based and part of my existing training plan, as well as a group training session which tends to be more cardio based.

As the weeks go on, I will also incorporate one-to-one pad work sessions and then we will eventually move on to sparring to start getting us used to hitting and – more importantly – being hit! We will all also be focussed on nutrition and how we are fuelling up for training and in the lead up to fight night, some will be wanting to achieve a goal weight whereas others will be more focussed on maintenance. It’s certainly a lot of preparation and disciplined hard work.

How important is having support on fight night?

A few family members and friends are understandably unsure whether they want to see me get punched in the face.  On the flipside, there may be a few who would willingly pay to see that! From my point of view, as this is an entirely new sport and challenge for me, having support will be important – I would hope that people will come along to see how much work goes into getting in the ring to fight, both physically and mentally.

In addition, there is also a wonderful spirit among the training group already and, having attended the last fight as a spectator, I know that everyone there watching, no matter who they are there to see, will be hugely supportive of all the fighters and the fighters of each other. I’m looking forward to it!

Tell us about the impact of your training.

Firstly, my appetite. I’ve always enjoyed my food, but the amount I’m burning through at the moment is unbelievable. I’ve also noticed that the mood I bring to training and sparring is absolutely key to my performance. If I’m not 100% focused, or my confidence is a little lower, the effect is amplified in the ring. Proof, if it were needed, of the mind’s control over the body, and something I’ll need to be on top of on the night when that bell goes.

What has this experience taught you?

The importance of resilience and tenacity. I’ve always considered myself to be fairly resilient, but a punch in the face before I’ve even had my breakfast has put that to the test. It’s pretty unnatural to walk towards danger, and your instinct instead is to say “ouch” and hope it will stop. But in the ring that won’t happen. The punches just keep coming unless you respond, and you can’t afford to stop and inspect the damage.

What advice would you give someone thinking of doing a tough physical challenge for charity?

Easy. Just do it! You’re much more likely to regret not doing it than if you just jump in with both feet.

Describe your fighting technique in one line

This is tricky as in the ring I’m still very much a work in progress. Assuming everything goes to plan though, I am aiming to be agile and make good use of my reach. I am hoping my long arms will be a big bonus, and I can punch from outside my opponent’s range.

To sponsor this challenge and support Kidney Research UK, please click here.

Elliott is now a manager within the Family Office Services team where he supports UHNW individuals, families and trusted advisors. Having worked for Crestbridge for four years, Elliott explained what he enjoys about his role and why Crestbridge stands out for him as a place to build a career.

What has been your career path to date?

My university degree in Finance and Accountancy was the first step on my career path and it really helped me to secure a trainee position in large financial services organisation when I returned to Jersey. After a few years, I moved within the same business, to a role that included both accounting and administration responsibilities. It provided me with an excellent opportunity to develop my skillset in both areas, but I was particularly keen to pursue the accountancy element and so at that point I started studying for my ACCA qualification.

After completing my qualification, I took a short break to travel which was a great time to reflect on my career and I decided to move to Cayman for work. Thanks to my previous professional experience, plus my qualifications, I was able to secure a great employment opportunity and spent two and a half years working in Cayman. I then returned to Jersey and spent a further two years working for a large global services provider before an opportunity arose to join the Crestbridge team. Crestbridge had an excellent professional reputation and I’d also heard good things from friends about the company, so I jumped at the chance.

I love working at Crestbridge and I feel lucky to have be able to expand my experience and understanding of different sectors including private equity, secondary debt, markets, hedge funds and fund of funds in the time I’ve been with the company. Around three years ago, I transferred to a role in the Family Office Services team to support the accounting function. The role is extremely interesting and varied and involves working across different asset classes such as stock portfolios, real estate, super yachts and sometimes fine art and jewellery.

How has Crestbridge supported your career goals and progression?

There’s a fantastic training and development programme and a great deal of support for career development at Crestbridge. As well as professional qualifications there are a range of courses and programmes that support soft skills development. I was lucky to be able to undertake the Crestbridge management development programme which has really helped to reinforce my management skills and support my team and colleagues.

In addition to the training side, there’s a terrific management team at Crestbridge and that’s been key to my own development. I think when you have good relationships with colleagues at all levels, and you feel supported, you have more confidence to step up and take on the tasks at the next level so that you can progress professionally.

What will be your next professional development or career decision?

I’m delighted to have recently been promoted to manager within the Family Office Services team. I think my next focus will be to work on consolidating my position, working with the colleagues that report to me and helping them to progress, but also expanding my own knowledge of the business at a more strategic level, to understand how the business is looking to develop its services and people. I’m really looking forward to the challenge of this role.

Do you have any advice for people considering their own professional development in 2022?

Have the confidence and drive to undertake some kind of professional qualification. In doing so, it shows that you have commitment and can apply yourself, alongside your day-to-day responsibilities. If I hadn’t had my ACCA qualifications, I don’t think the opportunity to work in the Cayman Islands would have presented itself; it really does help to open doors!

If you like the sound of what Crestbridge has to offer, why not check out the vacancies we’re currently offering. Click here to find out how you could make the next step in your career with Crestbridge.

The panel comprised of a range of individuals from the trust, family office services, private client, legal, banking and accountancy industry.

The panel discussed key issues for entrepreneur clients including challenges and trends that have emerged over the last 18 months. Notably, there was consensus across the panel that, despite initial forecasts, entrepreneurs had been exceptionally active with every indication that this momentum was likely to continue.

Highlights from panel’s engaging discussion are set out in the Entrepreneurs’ Boardroom article in the latest issue of the Private Client Dining Club’s Digital Magazine here.