Every now and then, Netflix throws us a curveball. Case in point: nobody expected the breakout hit of 2020 to be Tiger King, a documentary about an eccentric zoo owner.
It’s arguably also fair to say that nobody expected the biggest hit of 2021 to date to be a little-hyped Korean drama about a group of debt-ridden folks taking part in adapted versions of popular children’s playground games in the hope of freeing themselves from financial burden.
If social media is to be believed, however, Hwang Dong-hyuk’s nine-episode Squid Game, which has topped Netflix charts in several countries including the US, Singapore, Kuwait, Vietnam and more, is just that – the must-see series of the year.
There’s nothing particularly new about the premise of Squid Game. A group of contestants, 456 of them to be precise, are placed in an arena where they will compete in a series of challenges until one emerges as the winner of a $38.5 million prize.
When we say these playground games have been “adapted", however, we mean they "now end in a gruesome death".
It’s a trope that’s been seen on screens many times before. Japan ushered the genre into the 21st century with Kinji Fukasaku’s 2000 classic Battle Royale, while Jennifer Lawrence and the Hunger Games franchise made the concept bona fide blockbuster fare. Yet Squid Game takes a slightly different approach and viewers appear to love it.
The modern-day story takes place in a secret island base somewhere off the coast of South Korea. This might sound insignificant, but it lends an entirely different tone to the show than the standard dystopian future that permeates the genre.
Contestants are not mercilessly taking each other’s lives due to an all-powerful oligarchy or a vicious social experiment, but because they choose to. Each is given a decision to make in episode two, with the option to go home, but the majority choose to return on realising “the torture is worse out there” than in the game itself.
It’s a damning incitement of modern society that one can’t help but compare to 2019's Oscar-winning Korean drama Parasite. These contestants aren’t forced or cajoled; they simply want to be out of debt, to pay for their families’ healthcare, and they’ll do pretty much anything to get there.
The show’s aesthetic sets it apart from the crowd, too. Rather than offering the post-industrial wasteland or futuristic neon city we might expect from this kind of production, the action takes place in a garish pink-and-yellow video game-style nightmarescape, complete with grating, eight-bit electronic music every time another 100,000 South Korean won ($85) of prize money drops to mark the “elimination” of a player.
The contrast with the highly graphic scenes of butchery is certainly striking.
Perhaps the most memorable sections of Squid Game, though, are those that take place outside the game. Little glimpses of humanity are proffered as characters interact with friends and family, only to swiftly be juxtaposed with merciless inhumanity as they dispatch their next victim in some twisted version of hopscotch.
Visually and narratively, the show offers something entirely different in a well-worn genre, while simultaneously tapping into the current global trend for all things Korean.
With an ending that unashamedly sets us up for a sequel, we can probably expect social media to keep buzzing about it for some time.
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.”
What sanctions would be reimposed?
Under ‘snapback’, measures imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council in six resolutions would be restored, including:
- An arms embargo
- A ban on uranium enrichment and reprocessing
- A ban on launches and other activities with ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, as well as ballistic missile technology transfer and technical assistance
- A targeted global asset freeze and travel ban on Iranian individuals and entities
- Authorisation for countries to inspect Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines cargoes for banned goods
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