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Continental Group www.cfsgroup.com Insurance and Financial Services

Continental welcomed private bankers and wealth managers to a morning of exchanging ideas and sharing experiences at the...
14/10/2026

Continental welcomed private bankers and wealth managers to a morning of exchanging ideas and sharing experiences at the Dubai Polo & Equestrian Club.

The idea was simple: bring a client situation, a question, or a challenge worth discussing.

Led by Lyndon Dsilva, Shilpa Shetty and Arun Bhasi, the session explored how universal life insurance, critical illness cover and savings solutions can complement the wealth structures our partners already put in place for their clients.

The conversations went beyond products. Through practical client situations, the team explored an important question: while holding companies, foundations and family offices help structure and transfer wealth, how can families ensure they have access to liquidity when they need it most?

Our Founder, Ashok Sardana, also joined the conversation. Drawing on over 30 years of experience working with families, he shared his views on protection, succession and the importance of planning ahead.

It was a morning of open conversations, practical discussions and shared learning.

Thank you to Molly Wilkins for bringing everyone together, and to all our partners who joined us and contributed to the discussions.

We look forward to many more conversations like these.

Last week every department at Continental was handed a colour and asked to bring a dish that said something about the te...
12/10/2026

Last week every department at Continental was handed a colour and asked to bring a dish that said something about the team. Then name it. Then stand up and tell the story behind it.

That was the plot twist in our potluck, which ran across the offices. A dish is an easy brief. A dish that has to explain who you are needs the team to agree on who they are first, and that part took some talking.

Team Pink, our HR department, took the win, and we have chosen not to question the judging. Every team went home with a gift, which felt like the right call after an afternoon of creativity, laughter and some very good food.

Seven of the ten markets and assets we track finished the week higher.Brent oil led at $104.42 a barrel, up 2.12 per cen...
12/10/2026

Seven of the ten markets and assets we track finished the week higher.

Brent oil led at $104.42 a barrel, up 2.12 per cent, followed by gold at $4,220, up 1.39. In equities, the S&P 500 rose 1.15 per cent, the Dow 0.93 and the Nasdaq 0.64, even with volatility in AI-related stocks. The FTSE 100 gained 0.86 and the Sensex 0.78. Three declined: the ADX fell 1.78 per cent, the Nikkei 0.90 and Shanghai 0.74.

The backdrop remains one of persistent inflation pressure. Minutes from the latest Fed meeting showed most policymakers expect another rate increase by year-end. Middle East tensions and oil-price swings continued to keep bond and equity markets sensitive to headlines.

A mix of these exposures delivered a steadier experience over the week, despite the volatility implied by individual market moves. The chart on the first slide shows the full picture at a glance.

This card appears every Monday. Save it, or send it on to whoever keeps asking how markets are doing; our advisers handle the longer conversations.

Tap in for the full update → https://bit.ly/48UUYxa

This year’s World Mental Health Day theme is Lived Experiences Heard. Being heard is most of what a first meeting with u...
10/10/2026

This year’s World Mental Health Day theme is Lived Experiences Heard. Being heard is most of what a first meeting with us is.

Nobody brings a spreadsheet. They bring a worry: a fee letter, a renewal that went up, a bill that landed in the wrong month. The numbers come later.

The worry and the money feed each other. The World Health Organization, in a fact sheet updated last month, lists inadequate pay and job insecurity among the risks to mental health at work, and puts the cost of depression and anxiety at 12 billion lost working days a year.

Our part of that loop is the money. Bring the letter, the renewal notice, the envelope that keeps moving to the bottom of the pile. On the first call nothing is sold; it is read, and most things are smaller on paper than they were at three in the morning.

If the worry is bigger than money, please speak to a doctor or someone you trust first. We will still be here on Monday, and the first conversation costs nothing.

"I'm 31, no kids, no mortgage. Why would I need life cover?"We hear it all the time, and it deserves a straight answer r...
09/10/2026

"I'm 31, no kids, no mortgage. Why would I need life cover?"

We hear it all the time, and it deserves a straight answer rather than a pitch.

Life cover replaces an income for the people who depend on it. At 31 with no dependants that list may be short, and that is the reason the question matters now rather than later. Cover is priced on your age and health on the day you apply, and the people who will one day depend on you (a partner, children, parents who stop working) tend to arrive before you get round to the paperwork. Apply at 31 and the medical questions are short, the premium is small and the price is usually fixed for the term. Wait for the mortgage and the first child and you are applying at 38 with whatever your health looks like then.

Two more things. Some people already lean on your salary without being on any form: parents who get a transfer on the first of the month, a sibling's school fees, a loan you co-signed with a friend. And for anyone single, the cover worth asking about alongside it is critical illness or income cover, which pays you if you are alive and cannot work.

So the question is a good one. The useful answer is that the cheapest and easiest year to sort this out is the one where it feels unnecessary.

If you want to see what that looks like for you, DM us and we will go through it with you.

Tower Street, London, 1688. Ship owners came in for the coffee and stayed for the shipping news, because Edward Lloyd ha...
07/10/2026

Tower Street, London, 1688. Ship owners came in for the coffee and stayed for the shipping news, because Edward Lloyd had the best of it. Merchants started asking the room whether anyone would carry a share of a ship's risk for a fee. The ones who said yes wrote their names under the amount. Underwriters, from that day on.

Lloyd moved to 16 Lombard Street in 1691 and the whole market followed him. It is still running.

We think about this more than a brokerage probably should. We started in a corner office in Karama. There are four of ours now (Abu Dhabi, JLT, Bay Square and DIFC) and the one thing that never changed is where the real conversation happens, which is over a cup, at ours or wherever you are.

If you are ever passing one of ours, it is on us.

An open letter to anyone turning 40. You will get a lot of advice this year. This is the shortest piece of it, and it ta...
06/10/2026

An open letter to anyone turning 40.

You will get a lot of advice this year. This is the shortest piece of it, and it takes about twenty minutes.

In the UAE, your first screening mammogram is due at 40, and then one every two years. Nobody posts a reminder for it, so here it is, on a postcard.

The number matters more here than in most places. The average age at diagnosis in the UAE is around 48, and close to one case in five is a woman between 30 and 40, according to Fakeeh University Hospital. At 40, you are on time.

Found early, the Ministry of Health and Prevention puts the chance of recovery at 95 per cent of cases. We read terms and conditions for a living. We have not seen better.

Your medical plan may already cover a screening mammogram. The policy wording will say, and if you would rather we read it, send it over.

Book the twenty minutes. Then forward this to someone who turned 40 and never got the letter.

With care,
Continental

Some events are just another date on the calendar. Others linger long after you leave. Hope Behind the Ribbons was one o...
06/10/2026

Some events are just another date on the calendar. Others linger long after you leave. Hope Behind the Ribbons was one of those. Hosted by the Sri Lankan Business Council (SLBC) UAE, led by Women's SLBC UAE, and brought to life by the Council's NextGen team, the day welcomed H.E. Dr Arusha Cooray, Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the UAE, as Chief Guest.

Our founder, Ashok Sardana, joined Dr Lanka J. Dissanayake, Mark Kirby and Fathima Najath Samath on stage. Each shared a piece of their family's story.

Ashok's session, Protecting Beyond the Diagnosis, picked up where those stories left off: a family, a diagnosis, and bills that keep coming. Finances are part of the journey too. They are the one thing a family can prepare for before anyone falls ill.

Thank you, Suren Swaminathan, for the invitation, and to everyone who gave up a Saturday to be in that room.

Oil closed the week at $102.72 a barrel, up 3.95 per cent. Gold went the other way and fell 3.45.That was the widest gap...
05/10/2026

Oil closed the week at $102.72 a barrel, up 3.95 per cent. Gold went the other way and fell 3.45.

That was the widest gap on the board. Brent led, the Nikkei followed with 2.69 per cent on AI and chip stocks, and the Nasdaq added 0.45. The S&P 500 slipped 0.27, the Dow gave up 1.26 and Shanghai 1.19. The FTSE 100, ADX and Sensex each lost more than two per cent.

Behind the moves, inflation cooled but not by enough. The Fed's preferred gauge, core PCE, eased to 3.0 per cent over the year. Over the last three months it ran closer to 2, the first time in more than two years. Long-dated US yields still climbed to multi-decade highs.

Three of the ten assets rose and seven fell. For portfolios holding several of these assets, weekly returns were generally calmer than any single number suggests. The chart on the first slide shows the whole board in one look.

This card appears every Monday. Save it, or send it on to whoever keeps asking how markets are doing; our advisers handle the longer conversations.

Tap in for the full update → https://bit.ly/48UUYxa

A Saturday afternoon, a hotel meeting room in Deira, and a crowd of science students who wanted to argue about money.Our...
02/10/2026

A Saturday afternoon, a hotel meeting room in Deira, and a crowd of science students who wanted to argue about money.

Our CEO Akshay Sardana spoke at Young & Invested, the Sri Lankan Business Council UAE's NextGen session. His message fitted on a napkin: save first, spend later. The questions did not fit in the slot. The session ran well into the evening.

He came away with one observation. Nobody in that room was worried about the future. They were talking about jobs they would find and companies they would start.

Thank you to the SLBC NextGen team for having him.

Address

Indigo Icon Tower, Cluster F, 9th Floor, Jumeirah Lake Towers
Dubai
26588

Opening Hours

Monday 08:00 - 18:00
Tuesday 08:00 - 18:00
Wednesday 08:00 - 18:00
Thursday 08:00 - 18:00
Friday 08:00 - 05:00

Telephone

+97145091555

Website

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