JP Morgan expects as much as 10 per cent annual growth in its wealth management business in the Middle East and North Africa, as oil prices recover and wealthy investors look to diversify their portfolios into sectors including new technologies, a top executive said. "We've definitely seen a period of slowness in the last 18 to 24 months but [investments] are starting to pick up again now. We are seeing more and more interest coming from new clients," said Tara Smyth, head of private banking and wealth management for the Middle East at JP Morgan, told <em>The National</em>. Regional clients of the bank, the largest US lender by assets, include wealthy individuals institutions and family offices with a net worth of over $100 million (Dh367.2m). The oil-rich economies of the Middle East <a href="https://www.thenational.ae/business/money/middle-east-bucks-global-trend-of-declining-wealth-growth-1.889824">bucked a global trend of declining wealth growth last year</a>, increasing personal assets by 5.7 per cent, according to international consulting firm BCG. The worldwide average lagged far behind with personal financial assets growth of only 1.6 per cent in 2018, well below the five-year compound annual rate of 6.2 per cent from 2013 to 2017. There are 694,740 high net-worth individuals with a total wealth of $2.6 trillion in the Middle East, according to the World Wealth Report 2019 published by Capgemini. JP Morgan added 10 per cent to its client’s base in the first six months of the year, according to Ms Smyth, who called the second half of the year "more positive" in terms of expansion of the business. The biggest market for the bank in the region is Saudi Arabia - also the Arab world's biggest economy - due to high gross-domestic product (GDP) growth, size of population and the concentration of high net-worth individuals in the kingdom, according to the bank. JP Morgan added two senior bankers to the Middle East team based in Geneva to focus on growth, Ms Smyth said. A number of new sectors are being considered by Mena clients to boost their investment portfolio. This includes technology, artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, healthcare, digitalisation and high quality dividend paying stocks, she said. “We are also looking at areas where we can get [higher] yield … like global infrastructure - an area where there is an opportunity to find yield. Bonds today aren’t providing a substantial amount of income.” Ms Smyth said the global economy continues to grow, but at a slower pace than previous years and an escalation in trade tensions between the world’s two biggest economies - the US and China issues is a major risk that could slow it even further. But there is a possibility that trade tensions ebb as the US heads for elections next year, she said. “We would expect, especially as you have an election year coming up in the US that there will be incentive from the US side to try to ensure that they don’t escalate it to a point that it would drag down the global economy or the US economy,” she noted. “China also do have an incentive to want to try to continue to have reasonable growth within their economy.” Ms Smyth said a no-deal Brexit could create a short term impact, but it would be felt more by Europe than the global economy.