Globaleye, the Dubai-based international financial planning group, has named Terence Howes to head up its six-year-old Abu Dhabi office.
Howes’s position is a new one, in that there had not previously been someone at the vice president level in the Abu Dhabi office previously, a company spokesperson said. Howes reports to Globaleye’s Dubai-based managing director, Scott Balsdon.
Howes arrives in Abu Dhabi as the UAE emirate is in the process of ramping up its new international financial services free zone, the Abu Dhabi Global Market, which was established by federal decree in 2013, and which is now being actively promoted as the emirate’s government seeks to boost its non-oil-dependent economic sectors.
As part of this strategy, the emirate has also announced that it’s setting its sights on becoming the Arabian Gulf’s leader in the area of financial services technology, and to this end in May published a consultation document which sets out a proposed regulatory framework aimed at encouraging and accommodating the fintech sector.
Howes comes to Abu Dhabi from Globaleye’s Kuala Lumpur office, where his successor wasn’t immediately named. Previously he held other positions in the international financial advisory industry over a more- than-10-year period, including stints as an area manager, senior area manager, director and principal officer for various major companies, in a variety of major expat markets, including Singapore, Shanghai ,Beijing, Kuala Lumpur and Penang. He is described by Globaleye in its announcement of his appointment as “the ultimate people person”.
In Abu Dhabi, Howes, pictured (left) with Globaleye founder and chairman Tim Searle (right), will be responsible for leading Globaleye’s Abu Dhabi team, and, according to the company, brings “expert insight and strategic relationships for providing turn-key, holistic financial solutions” to the firm’s clients in Abu Dhabi.
Globaleye MD Balsdon said in a statement announcing Howes’s appointment that his “personable nature, financial expertise and experience in taking a strategic vision and executing on that vision will strengthen Globaleye’s position in Abu Dhabi and the UAE”.
As reported here last week, Globaleye is in the process of launching a new asset management programme, in partnership with Old Mutual Wealth’s Quilter Cheviot division and the Fidelity International fund house, which it says will offer its clients a state-of-the-art, risk-rated facility for managing their investments.
