Middle East investors are tilting their focus towards assets in East from Europe and the United States due to unattractive interest rates for euros and pounds sterling, according to a senior Pictet Asset Management executive.

"From the Middle East clients’ perspective, what we have seen on the back of the slump in oil prices [is that] there is definite interest in economies that have been typically driven by oil imports and are benefiting from lower oil prices, such as emerging markets in Asia and Japan," publication The National quoted Bharat Pratap, the director of business development for the Middle East and India at the private bank, as saying.

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Clients were trying to cut exposure to cash in euros and pounds sterling because of unattractive interest rates for those currencies, Pratap added.

Also, Pictet chief strategist Luca Paolini told the publication that Pictet is advising Middle East clients to invest in Japanese, European and Asian equities, which will give "single-digit returns", and avoid US and Latin American stock markets, which will have near-zero returns.

"We think earnings are a little bit too high [in the US]. The strong dollar is going to have impact on profitability of companies," Paolini was further quoted as saying.

When it comes to fixed income, the Swiss private bank is advising clients to focus on debt in emerging markets.

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Pictet, which has a representative office in the UAE since 2007, intends to double its business in the Middle East in the next three to five years.

"The Middle East is a very promising part of the world largely because it has got very large sovereign wealth funds and as well as pension funds, which are significant even from a global standpoint," Pratap said.

"Our [Middle East] growth is much more than we would have expected."