Many countries rejected traitor Edward Snowden

I cannot agree with the characterisation of India as "an opportunist nation" by letter-writer Joe Burns (India too keen to appease America, Letters, July 9).

Mr Burns objects to the Indian government's decision to refuse to consider asylum for Edward Snowden. But why did Mr Burns pick on India? Virtually every country Mr Snowden approached for asylum - save a few remote moribund socialist dictatorships - also refused.

Like the USA, India has been the victim of vicious attacks by both external and internal extremists. If surveillance and good intelligence techniques are a way to curb those ill-conceived schemes, so be it.

Edward Snowden in my opinion is a cowardly traitor, now homeless and unwanted. I don't know whose interests he was serving as he went public, but he now has a long time to brood and reflect over his bravado and rash decisions.

Malcolm Dias, Dubai

Court was right about acid attacks

I refer to the news report Indian court demands action on acid attacks (July 10).

Manmohan Singh's administration has not done enough to combat acid attacks, and I was glad that the Supreme Court said so.

The practice, most commonly used against young women by rejected suitors, must be stopped. It is good that the Supreme Court has ordered the government to curb this menace.

K Ragavan, India

Big Indian parties are all in trouble

The future of India's national political parties - Congress, BJP and CPM - has never been less certain.

Regionalism is a reality of modern India. Polling history shows that Indians' perceptions have changed, while the big parties have not kept up.

Corruption is the key problem for the major parties. Dignity is seriously missing from big-party politics. These parties have no mechanism to correct their mistakes, and so their constant negligence has spoiled their reputation, in cities and rural areas alike.

Young adults feel there is nothing they can learn from today's political leadership.

The Congress is in serious decline but neither the BJP nor the CPM offers a convincing alternative.

Ramachandran Nair, Oman

Respect norms during Ramadan

As Ramadan begins, I hope The National will highlight the need for everyone to cover up appropriately during the Holy Month.

Also, no loud music please.

Yasmin Ali, Abu Dhabi

You know you are in Dubai when …

On a hot and blustery Dubai day, I offer a few observations about the world's most prominent Arab city.

You know you are in Dubai when many people waiting for a lift are transfixed, staring at their iPhones, Blackberry Q10s or Samsungs, as if their lives depended on it, while owners of Nokia, Sony, HTC and other phones keep them out of sight and have sad expressions.

You know you are in Dubai when people in a meeting establish status or upward mobility by putting their BMW, Lexus or Infiniti car keys on the table.

You know you are in Dubai when someone waits half an hour for his car to be washed, but gets totally exasperated after waiting for five minutes in a food-court line.

You know you are in Dubai when a litre of bottled water costs more than a litre of petrol.

Amitabh Saxena, Dubai

Mortgage rates can surprise you

Cash buyers dominate as UAE market recovers (July 8) comes as no surprise.

Buyers should always be wary about taking out mortgages advertised as "variable finance rates linked into Eibor".

They may find that they have really been charged a fixed rate.

H Winston, Dubai

Location service needs more work

I tried the Dubai government's new service for identifying individual geographical points (Dubai launches address system for every building, July 9).

The site, mylocation.ae, worked beautifully to identify my exact location in Abu Dhabi city. But when I wanted directions to go from here to a work meeting in Dubai, things went wonky.

This is a Dubai project after all, so perhaps it's not going to work as well for Abu Dhabi. But a geo-location system should not give wrong information.

I welcome the effort to simplify addresses and directions, and I don't mean to mock. But there are still a few bugs in the system.

Elisabete Baums, Abu Dhabi

While you're here

Damien McElroy: It's too early to say who will win the vaccine hurdle race

Mustafa Alrawi: To get the 'jab' done, governments must show patience and empathy

Editorial: The fight against Covid-19 should be guided by science

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

Many countries rejected traitor Edward Snowden

It's unreasonable to single out India for rejecting an American whistle-blower, says a reader. Other letter subjects today: mylocation.ae, life in Dubai, and Ramadan attire.

While you're here