UAE is among top financial locations for expatriates

Russia, the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong are top five financial locations for expatriates and France is the least popular, showed a global survey. In the ranking table featuring 26 countries, Russia took the first place due to the number of expats saving being more, high annual salaries and the amount of disposable income available, according to the survey titled, Expat Explorer, conducted by HSBC Bank International. Qatar is placed at the second place, Saudi Arabia third, Hong Kong fourth, the UAE fifth and Singapore at the sixth place. America ranked 17th on the table, the UK 19th and France was at the last. Paul Say, Head of Marketing and Communications for HSBC Bank International, said: "We have tried to be as fair and represent the experiences of expats as impartially as possible by using several different measures to create the 'top financial locations'." "It is not just based on earnings. We used four different factors – ability to save, possession of luxury items, annual income in excess of $200,000 (Dh734,460), and disposable income in excess of $3,000," he told Emirates Business. The first of three installments of this year's survey, Expat Economics, showed the UAE once again as a top financial location for expats. "The UAE continues to be a top financial location as it is clear that people in Dubai can still continue to enjoy a good lifestyle. They continue to have good disposable income as well as good savings," Say said. The survey said UAE expats continue to have high disposable incomes and save more, while emerging markets rank above established centres for expat finances. The UAE comes out as an ideal financial location for expats, with more respondents (87 per cent) reporting an increase in their monthly disposable income after moving to the UAE than those (74 per cent) moving to other countries. More than half (56 per cent) of the respondents in the UAE reported a disposable income of more than $3,000 per month. In the Middle East, Qatar and Saudi Arabia were also top locations for expatriates. "As with our 2008 survey, we are generally seeing that although expats are spending more in their new countries of residence, they are also saving more," Say said. "There is no doubt that we have seen some interesting trends in terms of how expats are reacting to the credit crunch, but what is also interesting to see is that they remain to be a wealthy group of individuals. More than half of the expats surveyed are actually earning $100,000 and above – no mean feat particularly in the current climate." The survey also said that globally the current economic crisis has had a significant impact on expats' financial situation. The survey of 3,100 expatriates from more than 50 countries showed the credit crunch has changed their lives and they have reduced spending across the board, with the UK and the US identified as having the greatest number of expats considering moving back to home. The main reasons for choosing to return home included limited career prospects (28 per cent), reduced value for money (19 per cent), inability to afford as good a lifestyle (16 per cent) and reduced length of contract (15 per cent). However, despite the credit crunch, a resounding 85 per cent of expats said they would not return to their native countries. When asked if the credit crunch had changed their attitude to spending, 63 per cent of expats worldwide said "yes". The most affected expats are based in Russia, the US and Japan with 73 per cent, 74 per cent and 76 per cent of expats from these countries respectively saying the credit crunch has changed their attitudes to spending and saving. Surprisingly, almost three-quarters (72 per cent) of expats based in Thailand also reported that global recession has had an impact on what they spend despite reporting that Thailand is one of the cheapest places to live compared with other locations. Two-thirds (63 per cent) of expats living in Qatar said the credit crunch would not change their attitudes at all. Expats living in Bahrain were also unwilling to let the latest economic doom and gloom affect their lives with 55 per cent saying that their attitude to spending would not change. This indicated that the Middle East has not been hit as hard by the credit crunch as other regions, said the study. When asked how they have changed their lifestyles, more than half (60 per cent) of expats worldwide said they have cut down on luxuries, 54 per cent said they cut day-to-day expenses and 36 per cent stated they were saving more [for a rainy day]. Only two per cent of expats said they planned to spend more this year than previously. Interestingly, expats living in Canada and Saudi Arabia were most inclined to spend rather than save – almost one in 10 reported this behaviour. In the UAE, more than two-thirds of expats said their attitudes to spending had changed as a result of the economic crisis. However, more than three-quarters of expats (82 per cent) living in the UA