FinTech Hive, the start-up accelerator backed by the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), will host its annual Investor Day in the metaverse, marking the first time its start-up founders will be able to present their concepts to investors in the emerging digital space.
More than 40 financial technology start-up founders are set to participate in the flagship event on November 10, where they will interact with the programme’s financial and knowledge partners, FinTech Hive said on Friday.
“The DIFC’s accelerator programmes continue to attract the world's most innovative start-ups in the financial services sector and we enjoy connecting them with meaningful partners and serious investors," Mohammad Alblooshi, sector head for FinTech at the DIFC, said.
"Interest continues to grow in our region from global investors, which is why we are tapping into the metaverse to offer them increased access to an exclusive cohort of promising start-ups that have successfully graduated from our accelerator programme."
The metaverse is the emerging space where people, represented by avatars or three-dimensional representations, can interact in virtual worlds. It is part of Web3, the next evolutionary step of the internet, with blockchain, decentralisation, openness and greater user utility among its core components.
Dubai and other emirates have taken a number of steps to integrate the metaverse into the UAE's economy and society. In July, the emirate's government unveiled the Dubai Metaverse Strategy, which aims to create 40,000 jobs and add $4 billion to the emirate's economy over the next five years.
In May, Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority established its Metaverse HQ, making it the first regulator to have a presence there.
FinTech, meanwhile, remained the highest funded sector across emerging venture markets — which includes the Middle East — in the first half of 2022, more than tripling to almost $1.68 billion in the first half of 2022 from a year ago, start-up data platform Magnitt said in a recent study.
Funding activity for the sector nearly doubled in 2021, with those in the Middle East and North Africa region alone raising almost $1 billion, which is a 78 per cent increase from 2020, FinTech Hive said in its annual report.
Holding Investor Day in the metaverse is also in line with the partnership the DIFC and FinTech Hive recently forged with Emirates NBD, Dubai's biggest lender by assets, and US technology major Microsoft in August to launch a global accelerator programme for metaverse start-ups.
"As we continue to cement our position as a global financial centre and a FinTech and innovation hub, the metaverse will play a major role for DIFC FinTech Hive to lead innovation in the future of financial services,” Mr Alblooshi said.
The DIFC's FinTech Hive, which is home to nearly 200 start-ups, is one of the largest FinTech accelerators in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia, and has teamed up with national and international entities to support start-ups.
It has already concluded its Scale-Up programme for 2022, which saw 10 FinTech start-ups in at least the Series A funding stage pitch their technologies to investors. Its AccelerateHER programme, meanwhile, has continued to support female entrepreneurs, with 35 women participating in workshops and mentoring.
FinTech Hive's funding partners include the Dubai Future District Fund, Abu Dhabi-based Shorooq Partners, Wamda, Gulf Capital, Dubai Cultivat8 and Impact46.
In September, it teamed up with Kuwait-based Islamic lender Boubyan Bank to launch a new accelerator programme that will support the development of start-up companies in the Gulf state and the wider region.
The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
Sun jukebox
Rufus Thomas, Bear Cat (The Answer to Hound Dog) (1953)
This rip-off of Leiber/Stoller’s early rock stomper brought a lawsuit against Phillips and necessitated Presley’s premature sale to RCA.
Elvis Presley, Mystery Train (1955)
The B-side of Presley’s final single for Sun bops with a drummer-less groove.
Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two, Folsom Prison Blues (1955)
Originally recorded for Sun, Cash’s signature tune was performed for inmates of the titular prison 13 years later.
Carl Perkins, Blue Suede Shoes (1956)
Within a month of Sun’s February release Elvis had his version out on RCA.
Roy Orbison, Ooby Dooby (1956)
An essential piece of irreverent juvenilia from Orbison.
Jerry Lee Lewis, Great Balls of Fire (1957)
Lee’s trademark anthem is one of the era’s best-remembered – and best-selling – songs.
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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United States
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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Norway
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Canada
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Singapore
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Australia
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Saudi Arabia
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South Korea
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Blonde
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KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
LUKA CHUPPI
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Date started: Test product September 2016, paid launch January 2017
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Sector: Software
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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.”
Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
Bloomberg
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