Gilles Rollet, Chief Executive Officer of Mirabaud (Middle East) Limited, forecasted an increase in foreign investment being made in regionally based structured products and funds in the near future at the Middle East Hedge Funds Conference 2008, held this week in Dubai.

Rollet said: “Investors from outside the Gulf region are looking for investment vehicles with healthy returns that are based in stable environments. Structured products based in the Gulf, particularly hedge funds, are the perfect example. Bahrain leads the region with 57 funds worth around $2.6bn, and Dubai is determined to establish a competent global hedge fund centre.”

Rollet went on to describe the regulatory moves the region has made in order to create healthy financial environments suitable to the creation of hedge funds. Dubai's Hedge Fund Code, Bahrain's Collective Investment Scheme Regulations and Qatar's Financial Centre were seen as the most prominent examples. “We are seeing very significant investment groups opening offices here,” added Rollet. “Foreign institutional investment is looking for world-class opportunities, and they are finding them here.”

While agreeing with the common perception that Dubai is a growing financial hub by global standards, Rollet concluded that the outlook for the emirate is extremely positive. The region has yet to reach the level of sophistication of markets in the West and Far East, he said, but change is rapidly coming, and with it investors from those markets.