BAHRAIN BOOM

With a keen focus on providing the best for their clients, it’s clear to see why the Fairway Group have chosen the high-ranking hotspot of Bahrain as their new office locale. Stephen Penn spoke to regional manager, Graeme Fairlie, to find out more

Bahrain has event reason to be feeling on top for at present. The Kingdom in the Persian Gulf has been named the best place to live for the second year in a row, according to the 2018 Expat Insider survey.

This premium rating is just one of the reasons why the Fairway Group – a company which offers trusts, pensions and fund structures – chose the location for its first office outside the company’s Jersey headquarters, further cementing its considerable experience in the region, creating strong partnerships with Emirates NBD.

Quality of life

The global survey rated Bahrain second out of 68 for friendliness, sociability, and first for ‘feeling at home’ by over 18,000 expatriates. Many respondents in Bahrain give their working hours (44%), job security (33%), and overall job satisfaction (39%) the best possible rating, pushing the Gulf State to the top of the Working Abroad Index too.

All of these positives feed into the decision made by the company to locate the new Fairway Group office on Floor 29 of the iconic United Tower in Manama Bay, under the guidance of Regional Manager, Graeme Fairlie. No stranger to the area, having been born in the Gulf and grown up in Lebanon, Bahrain and Dubai, Graeme will be looking to build on already strong ties between the GCC and Jersey.

“We see Bahrain as a business-friendly, competitive landscape which is the perfect place for us to build our presence in the Gulf,” he explains. “The next generation of Arabic wealth owners are looking for solutions for succession planning, guaranteeing the family legacy for years to come.

“We are seeing increased interest in highly regulated international finance centres like Jersey, in order to provide additional comfort outside the Gulf.”

Strong Ties

The new office is the perfect complement to their existing headquarters in Jersey – which is positioned to provide bespoke structuring for wealth management, being less than hour from London and Paris by plane.

The Island, just 19 miles from the French coast, is part of the British Isles but outside the European Union, making it a unique international finance centre for trust and fund structures.

“Fairway have been managing wealth on behalf of international clients from Jersey for nearly two decades,” Graeme adds. “By choosing Bahrain as our next step, we are looking forward to the next twenty years and beyond.”

Fairway Group is a registered business name of Fairway Trust Limited, Fairway Fund Trustee Services Limited, Fairway Fund Services Limited and Fairway Pension Trustees Limited. Regulated by the Jersey Financial Services Commission ("JFSC").