Its Africa and the Middle East CEO Sunil Kaushal told Arabian Business in July that 2019 has been “a pretty good year” for the UAE economy, helping the bank to record “very strong” first quarter results which saw its global operations post a 10 percent rise in pre-tax profits to $1.38bn, while operating profit was up 13 percent in the Middle East and North African, compared to the fourth quarter of 2018.

Naushid Mithani, Head of GSAC EMEA and Private Bank Head, UAE Private Banking clients at Standard Chartered, is candid about the bank’s challenges, which include the slowdown of global trade growth.

“According to the IMF, higher trade policy uncertainty and concerns of escalation and retaliation would reduce business investment, disrupt supply chains and slow productivity growth. The resulting depressed outlook for corporate profitability could dent financial market sentiment and further dampen growth,” he says.

Mithani adds that the US and China’s escalating trade battle has also rattled investors and hit stock markets, with the IMF having warned that a full-blown trade war would weaken the global economy.

Moreover, he believes that the rise in US Dollar interest rates in the last two and a half years has left investors anxious about the performance of the fixed income asset class, which has provided impressive return over the last 10 years.

And while customers are concerned about overall global market volatility and the protection of their capital, Mithani says the bank is helping manage information overload by “breaking down the complexity of investing so that our clients can better understand the investment opportunities”.

He says the lack of performance of assets such as equity and real estate in the region over the last couple of years may “provide some opportunity for investors over the coming months locally”.

Mithani says the bank is focussing on digitization to meet the expectations of its increasingly tech-savvy clients.

“Our clients need fast, relevant investment advice to meet the challenges of fast-moving markets. Increasing demand for unbiased advice – our open architecture approach and unbiased decision-making process aims to provide clients with bias-free investment solutions,” he says.

The solutions include more socially responsible investment, as the bank found that millennials are twice as likely to invest in companies or funds with ESG outcomes. It also found high demand for succession planning as most of its clients are first or second-generation business owners who are concerned about the transfer of wealth.

Moreover, Mithani says the bank aims to transform its products and services to develop smarter options in investment and financial planning, as well as sophisticated advisory and personalised services.

The bank which began its digitisation journey three years ago launched several platforms to improve its client experience, including Connect Suite, which caters across asset classes to improve the speed of response to clients.

It also launched the SC Private Banking app which boasts instant messaging and file-sharing capabilities, allowing clients to easily manage simple tasks on-the-go while interacting with relationship managers.

Mithani says the bank still sees a need for personalised financial advice.

“The more sophisticated the product, the more need for a human touch to address their needs,” he says.