‘Eyes Wide Open’: Emirates NBD Group Chief Investment Officer announces positive outlook for 2026, with a healthy dose of caution| Emirates NBD

2 Min | 02 February 2026

Dubai, UAE, 2 February 2026: Emirates NBD, a leading banking group in the Middle East, North Africa and Türkiye (MENAT) region, announced the global investment outlook for 2026 themed ‘Eyes Wide Open’.

Maurice Gravier, Group Chief Investment Officer, Wealth Management at Emirates NBD presented the outlook at a media roundtable that was hosted at Emirates NBD’s offices in Dubai CommerCity with media representatives and senior officials from Emirates NBD in attendance.

Starting with a lookback at 2025, Gravier and his team highlighted excellent returns supported by a clear investment roadmap that had been established by the previous theme, the 2025 ‘Winds of Change’. This yielded USD returns between 13% and 20%. “Our strategies outperformed global peers by our widest margin ever,” Gravier said.

Opening the discussion for 2026, he commented that the new year would be defined by deep tech-driven transformation and a shifting global balance of power, resulting in clear opportunities especially for the long term, but also risks. Gravier added: “Everywhere we look, we see limits being tested by the combination of AI expansion with geopolitical antagonism. Fiscal and social limits immediately come to mind. Geopolitical red lines will be probed, while alliances and rivalries alike are reshaped. Financial limits, from equity valuations to government and projects funding, will also be tested, as will investors’ nerves.”

While iterating the macro themes of gold, AI and emerging markets, Gravier also highlighted the need for vigilance and selectivity. He said: “First, portfolio construction and risk management are paramount. We have reshuffled our strategic asset allocation to ensure portfolios always point to the long-term destination quintessential to wealth management. It is built to protect capital over defined horizons (3, 5 and 7 years) and is diversified enough to provide options to act upon adverse events.”

While expecting positive returns overall and probably in the first months of the year, he expressed the importance of finding the right opportunities below the headline asset allocation with granular analysis. He remarked: “We start the year fully invested, with an overweight in emerging markets, across bonds and stocks, as well as in gold. We are neutral on cash and fixed income and express some caution on some government bonds and alternative investments. With a combination of confidence and healthy paranoia, eyes wide open, we are prepared to adjust exposure swiftly in what should be another important and fascinating year for the world and for financial markets.”

The annual Global Investment Outlook 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.