The Bank’s CIO expects risky assets to remain supported by a soft-landing macro backdrop, though investors will need to navigate energy prices, equity supply, investor positioning and central bank policy in H2 2026.

For investors in the UAE and wider Middle East, evolving energy dynamics and easing geopolitical risk premiums following the US-Iran interim deal are expected to support sentiment, while stable oil prices and strong regional liquidity continue to underpin investment activity and diversification opportunities.

Against this backdrop, the CIO remains Overweight global equities, with a preference for the US and Asia ex-Japan, alongside selective opportunities in fixed income and alternatives.

Reflecting this stance, the CIO team sees further upside in key asset classes, with a target of 7,950 for the US S&P 500 index and USD 5,100 for gold by mid-2027, underscoring the role of equities as a core growth driver and gold as a strategic portfolio diversifier.

Global equities rose more than 12% year-to-date, supported by strong earnings and AI-driven optimism, despite geopolitical tensions, higher oil prices and elevated bond yields.

While this momentum is expected to extend into H2, investors will need to be more nimble as markets adjust to four key pivot points: energy prices, equity supply, investor positioning and central bank policy.  

In the Middle East, including the UAE, oil market developments remain particularly relevant. While the interim US‑Iran agreement may ease supply constraints and soften prices, the pace of recovery in physical flows and inventory rebuilding is why energy prices are unlikely to immediately return to start-of-year levels, a key factor shaping inflation expectations and investment opportunities.

Ayesha Abbas, Managing Director and Head of Affluent and Wealth Solutions, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and UAE at Standard Chartered, said: “UAE investors are entering the second half of 2026 from a position of strength. The region continues to benefit from supportive liquidity conditions and the stabilisation of oil markets. In this environment, we are seeing strong demand for diversified portfolios that balance growth opportunities in global equities with income strategies such as Emerging Market USD bonds, alongside gold as a strategic hedge. For internationally minded clients in the UAE, staying invested and well-diversified will be key to capturing opportunities as markets evolve.”

Standard Chartered (China) Ltd. Co acted as the only foreign bank serving as joint lead underwriter and joint book runner for the transaction, supporting Pakistan in broadening its international financing channels while strengthening financial connectivity between regional capital markets.

The issuance received strong support from multilateral development institutions, including the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which together guaranteed 95 per cent of the bond’s principal and interest payments. The structure helped attract significant demand from Chinese banks, securities houses, and international financial institutions.

The transaction was reportedly more than five times oversubscribed, allowing Pakistan to price the bond at 2.50 per cent, the tightest end of the indicated pricing range.

Salman Ansari, Global Head, Capital Markets, Standard Chartered, described the issuance as a strategically important transaction that expands Pakistan’s access to global liquidity pools while demonstrating the growing relevance of regional capital markets within the international funding landscape.

The transaction also reflects the broader evolution of the Renminbi within global financial markets, as China continues expanding the role of its currency beyond trade settlement into cross-border financing and sovereign funding structures.

Jerry Zhang, Global Head of Banks & Broker Dealers and Head of Coverage, Greater China and North Asia at Standard Chartered, said the transaction highlighted the bank’s role in connecting international issuers with China’s domestic capital markets while also reflecting the continued internationalisation of the Renminbi.

The Panda bond market has increasingly attracted a wider range of sovereign, supranational, and institutional issuers in recent years as regional economies explore diversified funding channels and deeper access to Chinese liquidity pools.

SunTec Business Solutions and Mashreq are said to extend their long-standing compliance partnership into electronic invoicing as the institution prepares for the UAE’s mandatory e-invoicing requirements. This collaboration is built on seven years of joint work on Value Added Tax (VAT) compliance and positions the bank to meet the Federal Tax Authority’s (FTA) e-invoicing deadlines.

The UAE’s e-invoicing mandate, established under Ministerial Decisions No. 243 and No. 244 of 2025, requires businesses to issue structured, machine-readable XML invoices transmitted in near real time to the FTA through an Accredited Service Provider (ASP). Large institutions with annual revenues equal to or exceeding AED 50 million must be live by January 1, 2027, with ASP appointment required no later than July 31, 2026. For UAE banks operating across thousands of daily B2B transactions spanning standard-rated fees, exempt interest, and out-of-scope for VAT, the compliance challenge is among the most technically complex in any sector.

“For seven years, SunTec has been the compliance backbone for leading UAE financial institutions navigating an evolving tax landscape.

As the UAE transitions to e-invoicing, banks will need to operate in a hybrid environment where customers at different stages of adoption must be supported—ranging from conventional invoicing processes to real-time exchanges through ASPs. This introduces new operational considerations, as institutions must ensure seamless interoperability across these models. At the same time, e-invoicing creates a network effect, connecting banks, businesses, and service providers in a standardized ecosystem. This positions banks to move beyond compliance, enabling them to embed value-added services such as financing, reconciliation, and cash flow insights directly into invoicing workflows.

SunTec Xelerate e-Invoicing is built to integrate with existing banking and enterprise systems, allowing institutions to participate in real-time invoice validation and transmission without disrupting their core infrastructure. As an approved ASP and a certified Peppol access point, SunTec enables compliant connectivity within the UAE’s decentralized continuous transaction control and exchange (DCTCE) model, supporting secure and standardized invoice flows across the ecosystem.

The company’s Dubai-registered entity, SunTec (Xelerate) Business Solutions DMCC, was approved by the UAE’s Ministry of Finance as an official e-invoicing ASP following completion of all technical and regulatory requirements, including Peppol Access Point certification. The company maintains regional headquarters at Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai, with dedicated implementation and support teams serving UAE financial institutions.

Under the UAE’s phased implementation schedule, the pilot program opens on July 1, 2026, for a selected Taxpayer Working Group. Voluntary adoption is available to all businesses from the same date. Mandatory compliance for large taxpayers follows on January 1, 2027, with all remaining VAT-registered businesses required to comply by July 1, 2027. Non-compliance carries penalties of AED 5,000 per month, per-document fines, and daily charges for unreported system failures.

“Axiory Intelligence was built to offer information and education, the very tools that can turn a trade around for the better,” said Axiory Intelligence CEO and Director Tomasz Wisniewski. “Now we’re giving traders the opportunity to back their trading decisions with forward-thinking analysis and investment tools”.

With detailed trade ideas, market alerts, and FCA-regulated signals provided by the renowned signal center, traders can cut through the noise and simplify their decision-making process. These tools combine human-led analysis with powerful AI technology to conduct in-depth market analysis and provide up-to-date data on hundreds of assets.

“We don’t aim to replace a trader’s critical thinking and understanding of the market. We strongly encourage traders to conduct their research,” said Wisniewski, “but the cutting-edge tools we’re providing traders will add great value, saving them time and giving them reliable information on to base their decisions”.

Axiory Intelligence is still focused on being a strong market news and education portal as when it was first launched in 2020. Market and news analysis delivery has drastically accelerated with real-time updates powered by experienced analysts and dynamic AI technology. Educational content is also fast-growing, with educational articles, infographics, videos, and pocket-sized starter guides for beginners.

“When we first launched Axiory Intelligence as a way to give back to the trading community, we had big plans to extend this project and offer more value,” said Wisniewski, “two years and many upgrades later, we’re still looking ahead and envisioning more ways to help traders”.

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Thank you, Mr. Tamer for sparing time with The Integrator. We are excited to understand more about EDCH with this interview session!

We understand EDCH is one of the prominent companies that help telecom operators with VAS and generate revenues for their business. Give insights into the areas you focus in the industry

EDCH is a UAE-based service provider that has a presence in nearly 10 countries across all regions and helps numerous telecom operators in their business. We help telecom operators provide international roaming services, protect their roaming business hassle-free by providing them with data and financial clearing and settlement services.

Tamer Abou-alam, VP, EDCH

Apart from that, we help our customers generate value for their subscribers in different areas like A2P messaging, Fintech and SIM, and E-sim businesses. Each of these solutions helps create more revenue for the telecommunication business of these operators as we study numerous factors and introduce tailored services for our customers.

You are seemingly offering services outside the UAE and across the globe. Tell us about the countries you offer services and operators you are associated with

We are the trusted partner for many MNOs spread around the world. We support our customers with a high level of customized services across all our services portfolio in roaming, A2P Messaging, Fintech, and SIM/E-sim business.

Which are the key areas EDCH concentrates on roaming clearance?

When it comes to using roaming services, we support telcos with data, financial clearing, and settlement services with a high level of customizations and BI tools to our customers. We always thrive to improve our offering to support new technologies like 5G, IoT, complex roaming agreements, and blockchain.

What kinds of FinTech and enterprise messaging services do you provide?

We had found a huge business scope with fintech in different regions especially in Africa and Asia. We collaborate with telecom operators to create futuristic mobile payment solutions such as e-wallet and aim to connect them together via an international money remittance hub.

How do you work with telcos in the A2P messaging space?

Enterprise messaging is all about profit-oriented mediation between telecom operators and enterprises on SMS services. Network operators carry text messages of various enterprises i.e., financial, banking, healthcare, automobile, etc. to their customers. EDCH simplifies the handling of this complex business to telcos by working between both categories of service providers and integrating them into prospective business models.

How about the use of modern technologies such as AI, Data Analytics, and Cloud in your business?

We make use of AI tools in different services offering especially for roaming services. We also offer most of our services in a cloud environment or locally if required by the local market regulations.

Tell us about EDCH’s business prospects for the next two, three years

Global expansion is our primary goal and hence the current approach to strengthen our business with local resources and expand our commercial presence in all those geographical locations to support telcos around the globe. While keeping EDCH as a reliable hub between global telecommunication service providers, we wish to bring in the latest technology and practices all within the telecom ecosystem.

Do you face challenges in the business?

The pandemic had severely reduced international traveling of people and that impacted the roaming services globally. The hazy days are over as COVID-19 fears are fading away and the global travel restrictions are being relaxed. We also realize the potential in developing services to support telcos in other growing areas outside of the roaming scope yet still within the ecosystem. We forecast a bright future with continuing roaming services and other uniquely productive solutions offered to our partners.