European banking giant UBS Group is establishing a new office in Abu Dhabi, aiming to tap into the growing number of wealthy individuals relocating to the Middle East, according to Bloomberg.

The ultra-rich have increasingly been moving away from high-tax countries such as the United Kingdom, opting instead for the region’s favourable low-tax environment.

“The Middle East has definitely been a winner for private individuals that have been moving away from higher-tax regimes, other places and other locations like the UK,”

said Beatriz Martin Jimenez, president of UBS’s businesses across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. She made the remarks during the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha.

Over the past decade, the number of resident millionaires in the UAE capital has risen by 80%, according to data from Henley & Partners.

The city is also expected to see its population of centi-millionaires more than double over the next ten years.

Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Middle East, based on image by wirestock via Freepik