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  • ADCB

Ellington Properties and ADCB Roll Out Pre-Approved Home Financing in Dubai

Pre-approved home financing in Dubai picked up a new route this month for anyone eyeing an Ellington Properties home. The boutique developer

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HNWI Wealth 2026 Trends
  • HNWI

HNWI wealth 2026 trends center on a record year, with global high-net-worth individual wealth rising 8.7 percent in 2025 to USD 98.3 trillion. Capgemini Research Institute published the figure in the 30th edition of its World Wealth Report 2026. High-net-worth individuals, or HNWIs, hold at least USD 1 million in investable assets, not counting a primary home, collectibles, or consumer durables. Equity markets did most of the work, and easing inflation helped. The global millionaire population grew by almost 2 million people to 25.3 million. That was the largest single-year wealth increase since 2018.

Where the new millionaires came from

Asia-Pacific recorded the strongest regional result, with wealth up 10.5 percent and population up 9.4 percent as semiconductor demand lifted Asian stock markets. Japan added 436,000 millionaires, and China added 154,000. India gained 11,300, and Australia gained 18,100. North America saw its HNWI population rise 9.1 percent. The United States added 736,000 new millionaires, more than any other country, taking its total to 8.7 million. Canada’s HNWI population rose 6.7 percent, or roughly 30,000 people. Europe returned to growth at 6.5 percent after falling in 2024, helped by steadier equity markets.

Luxembourg posted a 13.5 percent increase and Germany 11.1 percent, while France and the United Kingdom recorded 2.7 percent and 2.6 percent. Africa grew 4.1 percent on higher precious metal prices, with Morocco the fastest at 16.8 percent. Latin America was nearly flat at 0.3 percent, though Mexico’s HNWI wealth rose 5.4 percent. The Middle East was the only region to contract, down 1.4 percent, as lower oil prices, regional conflict and labour market strain weighed on Gulf economies, the Capgemini report mentioned.

HNWI portfolio allocations move back toward equities

HNWI portfolio allocations shifted as markets rallied. Equities reached 25 percent of portfolios as of January 2026, up three percentage points on the year, on the back of strong corporate earnings and technology sector gains. Fixed income rose two points to 20 percent after bond markets delivered their best returns since 2020. Alternative investments, a group covering private equity, hedge funds, commodities, currencies, structured products and digital assets, slipped to 12 percent as public equities outperformed. Appetite has not faded. Two in three HNWIs, or 68 percent, plan to increase private equity exposure.

Gains clustered at the top. Ultra-high-net-worth individuals, those with USD 30 million or more, numbered about 250,000 after a 9.4 percent rise, and their wealth grew 9.7 percent. Concentration runs through the HNWI wealth 2026 trends data, with the top 1 percent of HNWIs holding 34.8 percent of all HNWI wealth.

What HNWI wealth 2026 trends mean for advisers

Clients no longer stay put. Exclusive relationships have halved in six years. In 2019, 39 percent of HNWIs used a single firm. By 2025, that share had fallen to 19 percent. Product access explains much of the move, with 88 percent saying they work with several firms to reach alternative investments. WealthTechs, single-family offices and robo-advisory platforms are taking share from established players. Kartik Ramakrishnan, CEO of Capgemini’s Financial Services Strategic Business Unit, called the period a clear inflection point for the industry and pointed to an estimated USD 1.5 trillion in new assets that moved to competitors of traditional firms between 2022 and 2025.

Operating models under pressure

Among the wealth management trends 2026 has brought into view, client experience carries the most weight. Only 17 percent of HNWIs call their advisory experience seamless and personalised, and 42 percent have had to repeat their goals to the same firm more than once. Nearly all firms, 97 percent, still sort clients by assets under management rather than by behaviour. Six in ten executives say their firms lack a single view of the client, which leaves work duplicated across teams. Advisers spend 41 percent of their time on operational tasks. Three quarters want AI-enabled systems to handle routine work, and 61 percent want access to a wider group of specialists. HNWI wealth 2026 trends suggest the payoff sits in retention, since 53 percent of satisfied HNWIs recommend their firm and 47 percent consolidate assets with it.

  • 4 min read
PIF acquires Saudi football club stakes
  • PIF

When PIF acquires Saudi football club stakes, the change reaches the stands well before it shows up on a balance sheet. Saudi Arabia’s sports ministry said in a social media post that it has begun moving 25 percent of the shares held by non-profit foundations in Al-Ittihad, Al-Ahli, Al-Hilal and Al-Nassr to the Public Investment Fund. Regulatory steps are complete. The boards of those foundations will be dissolved. No price was disclosed, and the ministry framed the step as the second phase of an ownership transfer meant to make the four clubs easier for outside money to buy into.

Those foundations were built by club members. Some served for years, running elections, handling club affairs, carrying the identity of a club from one generation to the next. That role now ends. If you support one of these four teams, the people who used to speak for you inside the boardroom no longer sit there.

The PIF ownership stake and what it replaces

Regional and Saudi outlets report the fund already held 75 percent of the four clubs after the first phase in 2023, with the remaining quarter parked with each foundation. Folding in that quarter hands the fund the whole company. The second time PIF acquires Saudi football club stakes, the terms look cleaner than the first, because a single owner is far simpler to sell than a split one.

Al Hilal ownership shows where this goes. In April, the fund agreed to sell 70 percent of the club to Kingdom Holding Company, the investment firm founded by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, for SAR840 million, around $224 million. Before that, in July 2025, US venture firm Harburg Group bought Al-Kholood Club and became the first foreign owner in the league.

Saudi Pro League privatisation moves club by club

Saudi Pro League privatisation started as a formal programme in 2024, covering 14 clubs. Teams across the top tier have since moved to owners backed by sovereign money or private capital. Each deal follows the same shape. Convert the club into a company, tighten the governance, then find a buyer who wants the brand.

Ibrahim AlMoaiqel, assistant deputy minister for investment and privatisation, told a London forum in June that 11 club transactions had closed with two more underway, and more than 40 local and international investors had registered interest, according to reporting by Enterprise KSA. Five further clubs went on offer the same month.

What happens next after PIF acquires Saudi football club stakes

The logic behind all of it sits inside the Saudi Vision 2030 sports sector plan, which Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman set out to widen the economy beyond oil. Sport and entertainment carry part of that weight. The 2034 World Cup, which Saudi Arabia is preparing to host, tightens the clock, since a club bought today should be worth more once the league grows ahead of the tournament.

Each time PIF acquires Saudi football club stakes, the fund edges closer to handing the clubs over completely. What arrives with the new owners is harder to read. Budgets have tightened across the league, and Enterprise KSA reports transfer spending this summer sits far below the 2023 peak, when Saudi clubs pulled stars out of Europe at speed.

So the shares move, the paperwork clears, and the boardroom empties out. For the crowd in the stands, the real question is who walks in next.

  • 3 min read
CBUAE's Financial Stability Report
  • UAE Banking

CBUAE’s Financial Stability Report puts numbers behind something many people in the UAE already sense: that banks are lending more freely than they did a few years ago. UAE banking sector assets grew 17.1 percent in 2025 to AED5.3 trillion, worth roughly $1.44 trillion. Loans rose faster still, up 17.8 percent. Most of that credit stayed inside the country. Retail customers and private companies took on the bulk of it.

For anyone who has applied for a mortgage, a car loan, or working capital for a small shop, this is what a growing loan book feels like. Credit gets easier to reach. Approvals come through more often. Banks compete harder for your business.

Loan quality improved alongside the volume. The non-performing loan ratio fell to 3.3 percent in 2025, down from 4.7 percent a year earlier. In 2020, it stood at 8.2 percent. Lending more while getting repaid more reliably is an unusual pairing, and it points to households and firms in better financial shape.

Profits and the cushion behind them

Net profits climbed 11.7 percent to AED90.8 billion, about $24.7 billion, helped by higher operating income. The capital adequacy ratio finished the year at 17 percent, above the regulatory minimum. Deposits kept flowing in, so liquidity stayed comfortable.

Think of a capital ratio the way you would think of a household emergency fund. The bigger the buffer, the longer a bank can take losses without cutting off customers.

CBUAE’s Financial Stability Report also covers what happens if conditions turn ugly. Supervisory stress tests run during 2025 modelled a severe economic shock. Under the adverse scenario, the average Common Equity Tier 1 ratio slipped from 14.1 percent to a low of 11.1 percent, staying above the regulatory floor for the whole test period.

What CBUAE’s Financial Stability Report says about payments

CBUAE’s Financial Stability Report tracks how money moves as well as where it sits. The Aani instant payment platform carried around 183 percent more transactions in 2025 than in 2024, and enrolled users passed 11.7 million by the end of December. Aani lets you send up to AED50,000 at any hour of the day, with QR payments, payment requests and split bills built in.

The Jaywan card scheme runs alongside it as the national card network. Both sit inside the Financial Infrastructure Transformation Programme, the central bank’s plan for rebuilding the country’s payment rails. Work on cross-border payments continues under the same programme.

Beyond the big banks

CBUAE’s Financial Stability Report describes steady conditions across Islamic banking and insurance too. A legal change sits underneath all of this. Federal Decree-Law No. 6 of 2025 consolidated the rules covering banks and insurers, reinforced the central bank’s independence, and named the CBUAE as the country’s Resolution Authority, the body that steps in when a financial firm fails.

Khaled Mohamed Balama, Governor of the CBUAE, said the report “affirms the strength and resilience of the UAE financial system and its ability to continue supporting the national economy efficiently.” He said the central bank will keep tightening its supervisory and prudential frameworks and preparing the system for risks still ahead.

For savers and borrowers, the practical read is simple. Banks have room to lend, buffers to absorb trouble, and payment tools that clear money in seconds rather than days. What the next report shows will depend on whether credit growth near 18 percent holds without loan quality slipping back.

  • 3 min read
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