- Expansion
- Middle East
Programme Latitude · Regional plan
Middle East: expansion plan
The Gulf hub has arranged and advised from Dubai since 2023, with 19 people across three locations and US$58 million of client portfolio. It has never held client assets in the region. Eleven family relationships whose principals live in the Gulf are booked in Zürich, Nassau or St Helier instead.
The plan
The 2029 phase changes that. Dubai takes a custody and settlement link in six currencies and becomes a full-service office of 18 people. Doha extends institutional coverage, Manama adds a funding desk, and two registrations and two locations take the region to five of each by the end of the programme.
Targets
- Client portfolio in the region raised from US$58 million to US$130 million by the end of 2032.
- Regional headcount raised from 19 to 38, eighteen of them sitting in Dubai from 2029.
- Five offices and desks by 2032, adding representative desks in Riyadh and Kuwait City in 2029.
- Five registrations by 2032, both additions completed during the 2029 phase.
- The eleven Gulf family relationships held in Europe and the Caribbean at 30 June 2026 booked in Dubai.
Risks
- Scope of permissions. A wider set of permitted activities is a condition of the phase, not an assumption within it. If the scope is not granted, the custody link is deferred and the arranging model continues unchanged.
- Reconciliation. Holding assets in a new region multiplies the reconciliation surface. Breaks are cleared within one business day or escalated to the Chief Operating Officer the same evening.
- Concentration of relationships. Gulf mandates are large and few, so losing one moves the regional figures. No single relationship is permitted to exceed 12 per cent of the regional portfolio.
Initiatives
- Gulf custody and settlement link (Planned, from 2029)