Silicon Valley tech accelerator Plug and Play opens an office in the capital as part of a global partnership with Abu Dhabi Global Market. Satish Kumar for the National.
Silicon Valley tech accelerator Plug and Play opens an office in the capital as part of a global partnership with Abu Dhabi Global Market. Satish Kumar for the National.

Silicon Valley’s Plug and Play woos Gulf banks for deals with its fintech start-ups



Plug and Play, Silicon Valley’s tech accelerator that counts Google and Dropbox among its investments, is seeking to attract Gulf banks to work with its FinTech start-ups in Abu Dhabi and considering expansion into sectors from healthcare to smart cities.

The FinTech accelerator programme, in partnership with Abu Dhabi Global Market, will host a corporate event on May 3, when senior executives of at least 18 financial institutions, from credit card companies to investment banks, will hear Plug and Play's pitch, Omeed Mehrinfar, managing partner of Plug and Play Middle East, told The National. Leaders from other sectors that it's looking to expand into will also be present.

“By way of this multi-corporate FinTech hub, we’re not only looking to serve the financial institutions and government entities in the UAE, we’re also looking to service banks and governments in Bahrain, Riyadh, Jeddah and Kuwait,” Mr Mehrinfar said in an interview in Abu Dhabi.  “We want to pull that traffic.”

Plug and Play, which says it is the biggest accelerator in the world, opened its office in ADGM after signing a partnership in October with the international finance center to bring its FinTech start-ups to the capital to work. FinTech start-ups are emerging in the Arabian Gulf after governments launched initiatives to boost their growth. The Dubai International Financial Centre, the emirate's financial free zone, launched a US$100 million (Dh367.7m) fund in November to support the sector.

Plug and Play is also exploring potential accelerator programmes beyond FinTech across areas it typically invests in, including retail, automotive, logistics, energy and Internet of Things to serve the Middle East, Mr Mehrinfar told reporters in a press conference in Abu Dhabi, declining to specify the sectors being considered for the region. ADGM will be the base for expanding into these sectors. 
"We have massive operations across 13 other verticals and ADGM has pre-existing relationships with ministries and private sector companies-- foreign, local and regional--that operate in these sectors in the ADGM eco-system," he said. "We want to leverage those relationships to expand."

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The Middle East needs investments, new ideas, business models and technology across many of these sectors, Richard Teng, chief executive of financial services regulatory authority of ADGM, said.

“We want them [Plug and Play] to be extremely successful in the region as well," said Mr Teng.

Plug and Play has set up fintech partnerships in Paris with BNP Paribas last year and in Frankfurt with TechQuartier this year.

The three-month FinTech accelerator program will start on Sept. 16 after the final selection of start-ups are made on August 15 and end on December 12. The first batch will feature seven to eight start-ups followed by a bigger batch of 10 to 12 in the second year, Mr Mehrinfar said.

To be considered for the FinTech accelerator program, start-ups must have a product ready for the market, an existing corporate-client base and either revenue or funding, he said. The entrepreneurs should also be ready to take on the work-load of a pilot test that features in the program. Typically, the criteria requires start-ups to have funding of $10 million to $20m.

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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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Investing success often hinges on discipline and perspective. As markets fluctuate, remember these guiding principles:
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Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
 
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
MATCH INFO

Wales 1 (Bale 45 3')

Croatia 1 (Vlasic 09')

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RESULT

Esperance de Tunis 1 Guadalajara 1 
(Esperance won 6-5 on penalties)
Esperance: Belaili 38’
Guadalajara: Sandoval 5’

As You Were

Liam Gallagher

(Warner Bros)

No.6 Collaborations Project

Ed Sheeran (Atlantic)