Seoul is an endless array of coffee shops, clothing boutiques and the towering headquarters of conglomerates. To leave the capital for the country is to go back in time.
Start with Gyeongju, the former seat of the Shilla empire. Buddhist temples thousands of years old sit among serene gardens of the sort a five-star resort might try to replicate. Slanting sunlight casts a golden glow on colourful statues guarding the gates and small stacks of pebbles, each representing a wish from a visitor.
The stone stairs at the entrance to each temple have been carved narrowly to nudge the visitor into going down sideways or, better yet, backwards; it is rude to turn one's back to the golden Buddha inside.
Other marks of a bygone time remain, such as a small stone pagoda stolen by foreign invaders and now returned to South Korean soil, said our guide on a recent visit to the country.
"Foreign invaders from where?" asked a Japanese man in our group.
The local guide is too polite to admit until pressed that the pagoda thieves hailed, in fact, from Japan.
Hospitality is something tourists and tourism officials alike love to say abounds in many nations; South Korea is one of those few places where it really exists.
We were asked in coffee shops questions such as, "My study group is coming. Will it bother you if we make noise?"
Take the opposite path from Geongju and you end up in Daejeon, the science centre of South Korea.
End your day meeting solar power researchers and their lab-coated assistants with a meal at Bibi Space, a western-style restaurant that showcases modern Korean art in its gallery. The centre of Daejeon, however, is rich in remnants of old times, with signs only in Korean.
From there, the train ride back to Seoul passes in a blink.
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Date started: December 24, 2018
Founders: Omer Gurel, chief executive and co-founder and Edebali Sener, co-founder and chief technology officer
Based: Dubai Media City
Number of employees: 42 (34 in Dubai and a tech team of eight in Ankara, Turkey)
Sector: ConsumerTech and FinTech
Cashflow: Almost $1 million a year
Funding: Series A funding of $2.5m with Series B plans for May 2020
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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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Launch year: 2016
Number of employees: 130
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