

Quality control in an artisan jewellery studio, South Africa
From the art of making a compelling sales pitch to a sign of quality in some of the world’s most desirable objects, the value of clarity should not be underestimated.
Ultimate beneficial ownership in the UAE
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has just published its assessment of the UAE’s efforts to implement anti-money laundering and counter terrorism financing measures (AML/CTF)....
Identity crisis? LEIs and their role in promoting clarity and compliance
The first step in any transaction or compliance process is to identify the entity that is your counterparty. Relying on entity names alone is too ambiguous, particularly when you consider the variables that are generated by...
ClarifiedBy... Data Quality
Whether or not you believe The Economist’s now familiar assertion that data is more valuable than oil, there is widespread acceptance that data is a highly valuable resource, particularly for businesses. Data has become a...
Vulnerability in the supply chain
As business models become more complex, employees more technologically empowered and cross-border partnerships becoming more the norm, the on-boarding of new suppliers and supply chains puts every organisation into a position of...
Family offices – here today, gone tomorrow?
A startling statistic about the family wealth sector in the Gulf region, is that only 6% of family offices last more than two generations. This is especially concerning if you consider that in this region alone, they represent a...
Understanding the Family Offices of the GCC
It is a universally acknowledged truth that no two family offices are the same, varying as they do by factors such as size, structure, outlook and investment strategies, among others....
It's the sources, stupid
As some of you will have noticed, this year is Diligencia’s tenth anniversary and in Nouri’s post about the early days of the company he set out one of the guiding principles of how we compile our company information, namely only...
Private family offices: the role of the investment committee
When looking at decision-making within private family offices in the MENA region, it is perhaps natural to focus on the Chief Investment Officer (CIO), or equivalent position. This role is generally taken by an investment...
Avoiding the translation pitfalls
For anyone who has spent any time trying to research subjects in the MENA region, they will doubtless be aware of the difficulties in confidently identifying target individuals and organisations. Whilst almost all international...
The value of clarity – what have the Panama Papers taught us?
As the media hysteria around the so-called Panama Papers begins to subside, it is time to consider what this episode has taught us, if anything – and that does not include the hardly stunning revelation that celebrities,...