23 October 2007
HRH The Duke of York visits Abu Dhabi to promote closer links with the city
HRH The Duke of York will visit Abu Dhabi this week in his role as the UK’s Special Representative for International Trade and Investment, to help forge stronger ties between the UK and UAE.
A key strand of this relationship is in financial services, where the UK is a world leader and the Gulf region a fast growing global player. This is thanks to its stability, innovation, high level skills, a tradition of openness, appropriate regulation and a competitive tax environment – a springboard for global growth.
The Duke will take part in a lunch tomorrow with leading representatives of the UAE financial sector. The UK is attractive to business as it has become the global platform for international financial services and has, as of the end of 2006, the largest share of international bank lending (20%) and total banking assets worth £5.1 trillion.
The UK is a leader in particular in specialist financial services, such as Islamic Finance where it has developed an expertise and business dynamism unrivalled elsewhere in the non-Islamic world.
For its part, the Gulf region and UAE in particular is fast rising as a key player in the world of international finance with extensive liquidity and increasingly sophisticated financial markets.
The visit by The Duke of York is part of a wider programme of engagement between the two countries on financial services. Based on developing relations in fields ranging from Islamic Finance to financial regulation and Education, Training and Qualifications (ETQ), the aim of this effort is to build a strong partnership with the UAE in financial services that will prosper even more in the future.
Following The Duke of York’s visit, the Lord Mayor of London will visit the Gulf in February-March 2008 with a sizable delegation from the City to further develop the close links between the UK and nascent financial centres of the region. The UK will also be hosting a Pavilion at the World Islamic Banking Conference (WIBC) in Bahrain on 9-10 December, where a number of UK financial organisations will be speaking and showcasing UK capabilities in this sector.
For more information please contact: James Thomson UKTI Press Office on
020 72158483 or email [email protected]
Notes for editors
- UK Trade & Investment is the lead government organisation that provides support for UK companies looking to develop international business. It also provides support for UK overseas companies wishing to invest in the UK. UK Trade & Investment has a wide range of services, backed-up by a network of trade advisors worldwide who can provide market intelligence, advice on regulations, sales leads, and financial and practical support. www.uktradeinvest.gov.uk. For latest press releases from UK Trade & Investment register on our on-line newsroom www.newsroom.uktradeinvest.gov.uk.
- For many years the UK financial services sector has been growing at more than double the rate of the economy. Its productivity is rising at more than three times the average rate. Financial and business services now account for more than 10 per cent of the UK’s gross domestic product and contribute around £25bn net surplus to the UK’s balance of payments.
3. London is the world’s leading global financial centre – the location for 70 per cent of the global secondary bond market, over 40 per cent of over-the-counter derivatives market, over 30 per cent of world foreign exchange business, over 40 per cent of cross-border equities trading and a 20 per cent lion’s share of cross-border bank lending. - Globally, the Islamic finance market is nowadays estimated at £250bn – around 1 per cent of total global banking assets. But with annual growth of around 10 to 15% expected over the next few years, the potential is clear. The number of Islamic financial institutions has already grown to over 300 now, present in more than 75 countries. The British Government is doing its bit to strengthen London’s position as a gateway for Islamic finance. In the 2007 UK Budget, the Chancellor (now the Prime Minister) announced a series of measures aimed at facilitating and encouraging Islamic finance, including taxing Sukuk on the same basis as conventional securities. In April the Economic Secretary announced that the Treasury and Debt Management Office would undertake a feasibility study into the opportunities for the UK Government to issue Sukuk. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) is also responding to demand with regulations that facilitate Islamic finance – such as the Islamic home financing rules which came into effect in April of this year.
- The Duke of York was appointed as the UK’s Special Representative for International Trade and Investment in October 2001. Last year The Duke undertook nearly 300 trade and investment-related engagements in the UK and abroad. For more information on The Duke of York please consult: www.thedukeofyork.org