South African lender Investec opens office in Dubai’s DIFC

JOHANNESBURG, Sept 25 (Reuters) – South African lender Investec has opened an office in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), it said on Wednesday, in a bid to access deep pools of wealth from wealthy families and individuals in the region.

The DIFC has been luring global banks, asset and wealth managers as well as hedge funds, and it is now seeing rising interest from South African entities as investors look for safe havens, a neutral political stance and favourable policies.

Investec will offer its clients advisory and arranging services in private banking, wealth and investment management, and corporate and investment banking, Cumesh Moodliar, CEO of Investec Bank Limited said in a statement.

“We see a sustained emergence of high-net-worth individuals in Dubai and the Gulf as the region offers connectivity, quality services and growth opportunities for domestic and international companies,” Moodliar said.

By setting itself up in DIFC, Investec can use Dubai as a gateway to more than $3 trillion of private wealth, Salmaan Jaffery, Chief Business Development Officer of DIFC Authority said.

The Investec Group operates in two anchor geographies, South Africa and the United Kingdom, as well as the United States, Ireland, the Channel Islands, Mauritius, India and Continental Europe.

Investec did not say how many staff it would have in its new DIFC office.