WRISE Pushes On With Middle East Growth

Tom Burroughes

22 November 2024

Singapore-headquartered has launched a new offering for the Middle East market, tapping into a trend of wealth firms seeking to penetrate the region.

WRISE Prestige Middle East segment follows the rollout nine months ago of WRISE Prestige Hong Kong. The Middle East business aims to expand the team in Dubai to more than 100 by the end of 2025.

The business model of the new entity serves clients who might have previously been underserved by traditional private banking institutions, the firm said in a statement today.

At the end of January this year, WRISE Group set up the Dubai subsidiary, and secured a Category 3C licence in 2022.

Product offerings for WRISE Prestige Middle East will include global securities, structured products, mutual funds, fixed income and insurance, the firm said.

The business cited figures showing that the number of high net worth individuals in the United Arab Emirates is slated to grow by 39 per cent by 2026.

“The growth of new wealth segments across the globe, coupled with the demand for more tailored wealth management solutions, have driven the need to diversity our wealth management offerings,” Derrick Tan, group executive chairman of WRISE Group, said. (This publication has interviewed Tan about his firm's strategy.)

Dhruba Jyoti (DJ) Sengupta, who is CEO of WRISE Wealth Management (Middle East), said the firm has secured mandates from some of the UAE’s “largest family offices.”

Several private banks and wealth managers originating in Singapore and other Asian nations have expanded into the Gulf. In 2016, Bank of Singapore achieved regulatory clearance to open a branch in the Dubai International Financial Centre; DBS opened a branch in the DIFC in 2006; and in 2023, Nomura said its international wealth management business was moving into new premises in the DIFC.

In other areas, WRISE has pushed into the Japan market. Last November, it appointed Shigehiro Suzuki as market head of Japan.

The WRISE Group of companies include WRISE Wealth Management (Singapore), WeWrise Services, and Voo Technologies and affiliated companies WRISE Wealth Management (Hong Kong), and WRISE Wealth Management (Middle East).