The Abu Dhabi Global Market’s Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) imposed a $4.76 million penalty and prohibition order against investment management company Elia Investments and Babar Abbas, the organisation’s sole shareholder and former director.
The FSRA found that Elia had “carried on the regulated financial services activity of providing credit in [the] ADGM on an unauthorised basis” between July 2019 and June 2021, the regulator said on Tuesday.
Elia was at no time licensed or authorised by the FSRA to conduct any form of regulated activity in ADGM, the FSRA said.
“The FSRA will take the necessary and appropriate action against entities and individuals that are in breach of our regulations and rules, including those that engage in unlicensed activities in ADGM or who falsely purport to be licensed and seek to mislead the public in this way,” FSRA chief executive Emmanuel Givanakis said.
“The conduct in this matter was particularly serious, in that the entity and individual engaged in unauthorised activities to obtain upfront payments of money from their victims, the majority of which they then failed to return.”
The FSRA has been clamping down on companies that fail to comply with its anti-money laundering requirements.
In August, the regulator imposed a penalty of $360,000 on Wise Nuqud, a licensed money service company, for failing to abide by several anti-money laundering requirements.
It also fined five financial institutions for breaching reporting requirements in September.
The FSRA will take the necessary and appropriate action against entities and individuals that are in breach of our regulations and rules.
Emmanuel Givanakis,
chief executive, FSRA
Elia was incorporated and registered in ADGM in September 2017 and held a commercial licence to conduct non-financial business activities only. This licence expired on September 11, 2021, the regulator said.
Elia was never granted or never applied for permission to the regulator to carry out financial services, the FSRA said.
The FSRA’s investigation found that Elia had conducted unauthorised regulated activities by entering into credit agreements with at least four victims.
However, Elia did not provide the credit it purported to offer under each agreement and did not have the capacity to provide the credit it purported offer, the FSRA said.
Instead, the company solicited and obtained upfront payments worth $2.59m from its victims under these arrangements and then failed to return the majority of this money, causing financial harm to its victims, the regulator said.
The FSRA imposed a financial penalty of $2.38m on Elia, which includes a disgorgement amount of $1.88m and a fine of $500,000.
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The financial watchdog’s investigation also found that Mr Abbas directed Elia’s conduct and used the money Elia had obtained, and not returned, for his own personal benefit.
“In addition, Mr Abbas was found to have provided false information to the FSRA when being interviewed during the course of the investigation,” Mr Givanakis said.
“These are serious acts of misconduct and warrant the severe penalties imposed in this matter, as well as the prohibition imposed on Mr Abbas to perform functions in [the] ADGM.”
The entity imposed a financial penalty of $2.38m on Mr Abbas, which includes a disgorgement amount of $1.88m and a fine of $500,000.
In addition, the FSRA said that Mr Abbas was “not a fit and proper person to be involved in the industry” and prohibited him indefinitely from performing functions within the ADGM.
UAE v Gibraltar
What: International friendly
When: 7pm kick off
Where: Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City
Admission: Free
Online: The match will be broadcast live on Dubai Exiles’ Facebook page
UAE squad: Lucas Waddington (Dubai Exiles), Gio Fourie (Exiles), Craig Nutt (Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Phil Brady (Harlequins), Daniel Perry (Dubai Hurricanes), Esekaia Dranibota (Harlequins), Matt Mills (Exiles), Jaen Botes (Exiles), Kristian Stinson (Exiles), Murray Reason (Abu Dhabi Saracens), Dave Knight (Hurricanes), Ross Samson (Jebel Ali Dragons), DuRandt Gerber (Exiles), Saki Naisau (Dragons), Andrew Powell (Hurricanes), Emosi Vacanau (Harlequins), Niko Volavola (Dragons), Matt Richards (Dragons), Luke Stevenson (Harlequins), Josh Ives (Dubai Sports City Eagles), Sean Stevens (Saracens), Thinus Steyn (Exiles)
Ads on social media can 'normalise' drugs
A UK report on youth social media habits commissioned by advocacy group Volteface found a quarter of young people were exposed to illegal drug dealers on social media.
The poll of 2,006 people aged 16-24 assessed their exposure to drug dealers online in a nationally representative survey.
Of those admitting to seeing drugs for sale online, 56 per cent saw them advertised on Snapchat, 55 per cent on Instagram and 47 per cent on Facebook.
Cannabis was the drug most pushed by online dealers, with 63 per cent of survey respondents claiming to have seen adverts on social media for the drug, followed by cocaine (26 per cent) and MDMA/ecstasy, with 24 per cent of people.
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.”
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10 tips for entry-level job seekers
- Have an up-to-date, professional LinkedIn profile. If you don’t have a LinkedIn account, set one up today. Avoid poor-quality profile pictures with distracting backgrounds. Include a professional summary and begin to grow your network.
- Keep track of the job trends in your sector through the news. Apply for job alerts at your dream organisations and the types of jobs you want – LinkedIn uses AI to share similar relevant jobs based on your selections.
- Double check that you’ve highlighted relevant skills on your resume and LinkedIn profile.
- For most entry-level jobs, your resume will first be filtered by an applicant tracking system for keywords. Look closely at the description of the job you are applying for and mirror the language as much as possible (while being honest and accurate about your skills and experience).
- Keep your CV professional and in a simple format – make sure you tailor your cover letter and application to the company and role.
- Go online and look for details on job specifications for your target position. Make a list of skills required and set yourself some learning goals to tick off all the necessary skills one by one.
- Don’t be afraid to reach outside your immediate friends and family to other acquaintances and let them know you are looking for new opportunities.
- Make sure you’ve set your LinkedIn profile to signal that you are “open to opportunities”. Also be sure to use LinkedIn to search for people who are still actively hiring by searching for those that have the headline “I’m hiring” or “We’re hiring” in their profile.
- Prepare for online interviews using mock interview tools. Even before landing interviews, it can be useful to start practising.
- Be professional and patient. Always be professional with whoever you are interacting with throughout your search process, this will be remembered. You need to be patient, dedicated and not give up on your search. Candidates need to make sure they are following up appropriately for roles they have applied.
Arda Atalay, head of Mena private sector at LinkedIn Talent Solutions, Rudy Bier, managing partner of Kinetic Business Solutions and Ben Kinerman Daltrey, co-founder of KinFitz
