Dubai, UAE: The Group Chief Investment Officer at Emirates NBD, a leading banking group in the MENAT (Middle East, North Africa and Türkiye) region, has released his global investment outlook for 2024 themed “The Year of Answers”. The 2024 outlook was announced by Maurice Gravier, Group Chief Investment Officer at Emirates NBD Group at a media roundtable.

Speaking to the media, Gravier and his team presented their investment strategy against a positive backdrop of considerable gains, after focused long-term strategic asset allocation to enhance portfolios in 2023.

Gravier commented: “The big questions of 2023 are still here, but 2024 will provide answers. Growth, inflation, central banks, but also geopolitics, elections, policies, will take a direction. These will be catalysts for the year and clues for the future. Central banks, who outright dominated markets for 15 years, should become less radical, more predictable, less prominent. With pivotal changes also materialising in the international order and in technology, the investment landscape is definitely rejuvenated.”

He added: “We start 2024 with a positioning shaped by a combination of fundamental and behavioural analysis. After the year-end rally, we appreciate safe sources of income. We are cautious with some expensive and crowded asset classes. We are slightly defensive, but this is not an outright risk aversion: we see value in selected stocks and bonds, even in the high yield segment. As data progressively lifts the veil on the state of the world in 2024, we are prepared to be tactically active and more selective than ever.

“At the allocation level, valuation will help identify tactical opportunities through volatility. But it is also about selection: less directional markets will unlock differentiation between names, as opposed to passive replication of indices which have arguably become unbalanced. Risk-adjusted returns should not be exciting in 2024, but we believe that active management will help: alpha over beta, portfolio management over speculative trading.”

Gravier affirmed: “Volatility will remain significant, especially as markets have just unanimously embraced, and generously priced-in, an ultra-consensual scenario. The scenario will be questioned by data, and geopolitical risk should matter more than last year. The upside potential for some asset classes is limited in 2024, while their vulnerability to risk-aversion is significant. Bottom-line, we would be happy with mid-single digit returns in 2024 for our diversified portfolios.”

The annual global investment outlook announced by the Group Chief Investment Officer at Emirates NBD Group is an advisory blueprint covering investment opportunities, key global economic indicators and in-depth financial market insights, based on which Emirates NBD’s team of advisors, strategists and analysts make recommendations on financial transactions and investments to the bank’s qualified clients. 

About Emirates NBD

Emirates NBD (DFM: Emirates NBD) is a leading banking group in the MENAT (Middle East, North Africa and Türkiye) region with a presence in 13 countries, serving over 9 million active customers. As at 31st December 2023, total assets were AED 863 billion, (equivalent to approx. USD 235 billion). The Group has operations in the UAE, Egypt, India, Türkiye, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Austria, Germany, Russia and Bahrain and representative offices in China and Indonesia with a total of 850 branches and 4,431 ATMs / SDMs. Emirates NBD is the leading financial services brand in the UAE with a Brand value of USD 3.89 billion. 

Emirates NBD Group serves its customers (individuals, businesses, governments, and institutions) and helps them realise their financial objectives through a range of banking products and services including retail banking, corporate and institutional banking, Islamic banking, investment banking, private banking, asset management, global markets and treasury, and brokerage operations. The Group is a key participant in the global digital banking industry with 97% of all financial transactions and requests conducted outside of its branches. The Group also operates Liv, the lifestyle digital bank by Emirates NBD, with close to half a million users, it continues to be the fastest-growing bank in the region.

Emirates NBD contributes to the construction of a sustainable future as an active participant and supporter of the UAE’s main development and sustainability initiatives, including financial wellness and the inclusion of people of determination. Emirates NBD is committed to supporting the UAE’s Year of Sustainability as Principal Banking Partner of COP28 and an early supporter to the Dubai Can sustainability initiative, a city-wide initiative aimed to reduce use of single-use plastic bottled water.

For further information on Emirates NBD, please contact:
Ibrahim Sowaidan
Senior Vice President
Head - Group Corporate Affairs
Emirates NBD
Telephone: +971 4 609 4113 / +971 50 6538937
e-mail: ibrahims@emiratesnbd.com

asda’a bcw; Dubai, UAE
Tel: 971-4-4507600; Fax: 971-4-4358040
Email: emiratesnbd@bm.com