The International Air Transport Association is developing a digital health pass to prove passengers have tested negative for Covid-19 or have been vaccinated.
Iata disclosed key features of the application, which is called the Travel Pass.
The app could help revive international travel as demand for air travel remains weak despite vaccine breakthroughs. Overall, international passenger demand in October was 87.8 per cent lower than it was in the same month last year, according to Iata.
Travel Pass is a system that both travellers and governments can trust and “is being built with data security, convenience and verification as top priorities”, according to Alexandre de Juniac, Iata’s director general and chief executive.
Here are some of the application’s features:
What is the Iata Travel Pass?
It is a mobile app to help travellers securely manage their journeys in line with government requirements that require testing or information about a person’s Covid-19 vaccine status..
How is Iata building the pass?
Iata is developing the pass in four independent stages.
These are the maintenance of records for regulatory entry requirements and information related to test centres, verified certificate issuances, digital identity and the possibility for passengers to share their test results through their mobile devices.
Iata is also partnering with select laboratories worldwide to securely link test results to the verified identity of a pass holder.
“We are building the pass with one aim ... to help reconnect our world safely,” said Nick Careen, Iata’s senior vice president for airport, passenger, cargo and security.
Is Travel Pass safe to use?
All information, including test results and vaccination reports, will be encrypted and stored on the traveller’s smartphone. Users can control what information is shared from their phone with airlines and authorities.
“By keeping travellers 100 per cent in control of their information, the highest standards for data privacy are ensured … no central database or data repository is storing the information,” Iata said.
How do potential users feel about using the app?
Travellers are willing to share their personal information if it makes travelling safe, according to Iata, which represents about 300 airlines worldwide.
Seven in 10 passengers had concerns about handing over their passport, phone or boarding pass to airline agents, security staff or government officials at airports, Iata said, citing a survey conducted in September.
About 85 per cent of travellers will feel safer using contactless processing facilities at airports and 44 per cent are willing to share personal data to enable touchless processing.
When will the Travel Pass be launched?
The first cross-border Travel Pass pilot is expected within weeks. The worldwide launch is scheduled for the first quarter of next year on both Android and iOS mobile operating systems.
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.”
UAE tour of the Netherlands
UAE squad: Rohan Mustafa (captain), Shaiman Anwar, Ghulam Shabber, Mohammed Qasim, Rameez Shahzad, Mohammed Usman, Adnan Mufti, Chirag Suri, Ahmed Raza, Imran Haider, Mohammed Naveed, Amjad Javed, Zahoor Khan, Qadeer Ahmed
Fixtures:
Monday, 1st 50-over match
Wednesday, 2nd 50-over match
Thursday, 3rd 50-over match
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
THE SPECS
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo
Power: 275hp at 6,600rpm
Torque: 353Nm from 1,450-4,700rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto
Top speed: 250kph
Fuel consumption: 6.8L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: Dh146,999
Kandahar%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Ric%20Roman%20Waugh%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%C2%A0%3C%2Fstrong%3EGerard%20Butler%2C%20Navid%20Negahban%2C%20Ali%20Fazal%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
