Angelina Jolie honoured at Sarajevo Film Festival

Angelina Jolie, whose directorial debut In the Land of Blood and Honey dealt with the 1992-95 war in Bosnia, arrived on Saturday at the Sarajevo Film Festival, where she is to be made an honorary citizen for her efforts in "keeping the truth about wartime events in Sarajevo and Bosnia-Herzegovina alive". Jolie arrived without Brad Pitt but with three of their children. She attended a workshop for young film artists from 13 countries, held on the sidelines of the festival. * AFP

Justin Bieber to play Middle East next year

Justin Bieber is coming to the Middle East, he announced on Twitter. "Just agreed to routing for Europe, Russia, Middle East, Asia, Australia and NZ, South America and South Africa BELIEVE tour dates," he posted Wednesday. Believe is the 18-year-old's second album, released last month. His current tour schedule kicks off in Arizona in September and ends in Miami in January. Exact details for the additional stops have yet to be announced.

The Hobbit finishes filming

After 266 days of shooting, Peter Jackson announced on Friday he had wrapped production for his two-part film adaptation of The Hobbit. "We made it! Thanks to our fantastic cast and crew for getting us this far, and to all of you for your support! Next stop, the cutting room," he posted on Facebook. Jackson is due to make an appearance at this week's San Diego Comic-Con to promote the first Hobbit film, due for release in December.

Boyzone plan anniversary album

The Irish boy band Boyzone are planning a special album and tour next year to mark their 20th anniversary. The group formed after responding to an ad hunting for stars in 1993. "We've plans in place - that's if people want to come and see us," the group member Keith Duffy told The Sun. "We have a very loyal fan base that always come in their thousands. It's a nice set-up – we never broke up, so we can get back together when it suits."

Clooney and Keibler suffer food poisoning

George Clooney and girlfriend Stacy Keibler suffered from food poisoning in Italy last week. "Finally had a bad meal in Italy. Our whole dinner party got food poisoning. Oh well, at least I'm still here," Keibler posted on Twitter on Thursday. The couple had dinner with friends at a restaurant in Cernobbio, Italy, where Clooney owns a Lake Como villa. According to the celebrity website TMZ, no one in the actor's party needed medical attention.

FIXTURES

Fixtures for Round 15 (all times UAE)

Friday
Inter Milan v AS Roma (11.45pm)
Saturday
Atalanta v Verona (6pm)
Udinese v Napoli (9pm)
Lazio v Juventus (11.45pm)
Sunday
Lecce v Genoa (3.30pm)
Sassuolo v Cagliari (6pm)
SPAL v Brescia (6pm)
Torino v Fiorentina (6pm)
Sampdoria v Parma (9pm)
Bologna v AC Milan (11.45pm)

Gender pay parity on track in the UAE

The UAE has a good record on gender pay parity, according to Mercer's Total Remuneration Study.

"In some of the lower levels of jobs women tend to be paid more than men, primarily because men are employed in blue collar jobs and women tend to be employed in white collar jobs which pay better," said Ted Raffoul, career products leader, Mena at Mercer. "I am yet to see a company in the UAE – particularly when you are looking at a blue chip multinationals or some of the bigger local companies – that actively discriminates when it comes to gender on pay."

Mr Raffoul said most gender issues are actually due to the cultural class, as the population is dominated by Asian and Arab cultures where men are generally expected to work and earn whereas women are meant to start a family.

"For that reason, we see a different gender gap. There are less women in senior roles because women tend to focus less on this but that’s not due to any companies having a policy penalising women for any reasons – it’s a cultural thing," he said.

As a result, Mr Raffoul said many companies in the UAE are coming up with benefit package programmes to help working mothers and the career development of women in general.

While you're here

The rise and fall of Aung San Suu Kyi

UAE's diplomatic ties with Myanmar

Myanmar no longer a symbol of hope

Rohingya deserve a stake in politics

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From Zero

Artist: Linkin Park

Label: Warner Records

Number of tracks: 11

Rating: 4/5

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.”

Name: Peter Dicce

Title: Assistant dean of students and director of athletics

Favourite sport: soccer

Favourite team: Bayern Munich

Favourite player: Franz Beckenbauer

Favourite activity in Abu Dhabi: scuba diving in the Northern Emirates