The companies in Gulf region can substantially increase their attractiveness to European and US partners and investors through simple self-due diligence, said the head of a top US corporate investigations firm at a conference in Dubai.

Dan Nardello, principal of Nardello & Company said self-due diligence offers a fast and effective route to counter, as well as to anticipate and clarify, unfair but damaging perceptions of some businesses in the region.

He was speaking at the C5 Conference on ‘Fraud, Asset Tracing & Recovery in the Gulf’ at the Al Murooj Rotana in Dubai recently.

'EU and US investors want transparency in their business dealings and are increasingly investigating regional companies before deals, particularly now that they are operating under increasingly strict regulatory regimes including the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the new UK Bribery Act,' he noted.

According to him, the rules are so tight in many jurisdictions now that companies need to show they have full knowledge of their partners.

'This is where self-due diligence can put GCC companies a step ahead,' Nardello pointed out.

'By conducting self-due diligence, a company is effectively giving itself an audited clean bill of health, substantially increasing its attractiveness to potential partners and investors,' he said.

'Given the choice between a partner that can prove its financial and regulatory strength through such due diligence, and one that cannot, it’s a no-brainer which to go with,' Nardello noted.

“Self due diligence is a trend that we will see grow and develop across the world over the coming years – and I see a real role for it in the Gulf and the wider Middle East. It allows the Gulf’s many strong and financially resilient companies to show this to the outside world,” he added.

Nardello & Co is an international corporate investigations firm with established offices in New York, Washington DC, London and Milan with a new office in Miami opening in February.

Set up in 2003 by Daniel Nardello, the firm provides expert litigation support, global asset tracing, fraud investigations and complex due diligence services. Its dedicated Middle East practice is headed up by Rana Feghali who has conducted hundreds of investigations from North Africa to the GCC.-TradeArabia News Service