The CEO of Deutsche Bank for the MENA region has said he expects the loss of assets of Gulf sovereign funds to reach $450 billion.
“This loss is equivalent to the region’s oil income for a whole year,” said Henry Azzam in an interview with CNBC’s Arabiya Fil Omoq programme.
One of the region’s most respected economists and chief executives announced that he thought that the region’s sovereign funds may not perform well in 2009 after poor 2008 results.
Azzam also spoke about his vision and expectations for the real estate market in the UAE.
“If multinational companies and banks in Dubai keep reducing their workforce, as well as the exit of the professionals who buy and rent real estate, then the correction process in the market might take longer time, or won’t end in 2009,” said Azzam.
Commenting on the affects of the current economic climate on the banking sector, Azzam added: “Investment banks are facing problems today, and a possible solution for those banks which have some capital is to acquire weaker commercial banks. With that we’ll create more trade and investment banks.”
Deutsche Bank, the largest German bank and one of the world’s leading global investment banks, has developed a strong presence in the MENA region, operating out of the UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt and Algeria.
Follow us on
