I'm usually pretty good when it comes to paying my bills. Except for Etisalat, that is. But that's only because I don't receive my phone and internet bill until two weeks or so after the due date.
So far, Etisalat hasn't noticed. Or perhaps it has and is choosing to ignore my late payments. In my defence, I'm not responsible for the time it takes to reach me by post. And let's face it, I'm not about to call and find out where it is because we all know where that will lead: nowhere, but with a lot of frustration along the way.
To ensure that I pay my bills (except one) on time, I have a few direct debits set up and they are taken care of at the same time every month. There are a couple of payments that I have to take care of in cash, but they only relate to the guy who washes my car every morning - and who I never see unless it is payday, when he hangs about outside our house at the end of the first week of every month. And the water deliverers, who we pay cash on delivery once a week.
The rest I take care of through online transfers. Etisalat (when the bill finally arrives) is one of them. The other is my daughter's school fees, which I transfer to her school's bank account at the start of every term, and her piano tuition, which is also done through her school.
I don't normally have problems transferring funds via my online account. But it seems that my luck with technology ran out when my BlackBerry gave up the ghost last month.
So until further notice, I'm going to blame my online transfer problem on the fact that I've lost my technology mojo. Or perhaps it's on temporary hiatus. Or maybe it just needs an upgrade; my mojo, that is.
Whatever the reason, it doesn't explain where a transfer I sent via my online account nearly two weeks ago has disappeared to. I mean, if it leaves my account and doesn't land in the account that I sent it to, just where exactly does it go? And how do you find it?
HSBC, my bank, doesn't know where. At least not yet. I'm still waiting for its complaints department to get back to me.
National Bank of Abu Dhabi, the bank my daughter's school uses, has confirmed that my money hasn't arrived. Despite the SMS and email confirmations I received from HSBC, that Dh800 (US$217) I transferred for my daughter's piano tuition is somewhere in limbo.
Every other time I've sent money from my account with the "world's local bank" to an actual local bank, it has arrived the following day. And even though it is only Dh800, I am a little worried. The amount has been deducted from my account already. And I certainly don't want to pay again.
I know I filled out the online transfer form correctly, meticulously checking the account number three times before pressing the confirm button and sending the transfer on its merry way.
And I'm almost certain that I included the beneficiary's international bank account number (Iban) in the transfer instructions. But I wish I was 100 per cent sure on that one.
As you know, the Central Bank last year regulated that all bank account holders in the UAE must have an Iban, which is used for a range of transactions, including salary payments, remittances and transfers to other accounts.
The ruling came into effect on November 19. However, according to the Central Bank's website, residents could still carry out transactions without an Iban until April 12. "However, it is likely that your transfer may get processed with delays," the Central Bank warns on its website.
"Banks will not process and will reject such transfers if they do not contain a valid Iban account number after April 12, 2012. Furthermore, there may be additional rejection charges applied to the transfer. This is only applicable for payments made to beneficiaries in the UAE."
Oops. But if my transfer didn't include that mandatory 23-digit Iban, then it would have been rejected before I even got to the confirm stage. Right? Or is that too logical? If that is the case, do I face rejection charges, not to mention the indignity of losing face?
But perhaps the fault doesn't lie with me. As I said, I'm fairly sure I didn't leave off the Iban. And if that's the case, then perhaps my mojo is on its way back. I hope so; for me and the future of my daughter's piano lessons.
UPDATE: I did omit that oh-so-important Iban in my transfer, which means it didn't go through as planned. According to HSBC's customer care rep, the money was credited back to my account the day after. However, I can't find that credit. I've also tried resending the money - and guess what? There's nothing on the online transfer form for users to include the receiver's Iban. So much for my mojo.
fglover@thenational.ae
The years Ramadan fell in May
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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.”
COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
● Started: 2024
● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
● Funding size: Bootstrapped
● No of employees: Nine
What is graphene?
Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb.
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were "playing about" with sticky tape and graphite - the material used as "lead" in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But as they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment had led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
At the time, many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. But examined under a microscope, the material remained stable, and when tested was found to have incredible properties.
It is many times times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible. It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent. The world's first 2D material, it is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.
But the 'sticky tape' method would not work on an industrial scale. Since then, scientists have been working on manufacturing graphene, to make use of its incredible properties.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Their discovery meant physicists could study a new class of two-dimensional materials with unique properties.
%3Cp%3EThe%20Department%20of%20Culture%20and%20Tourism%20-%20Abu%20Dhabi%E2%80%99s%20Arabic%20Language%20Centre%20will%20mark%20International%20Women%E2%80%99s%20Day%20at%20the%20Bologna%20Children's%20Book%20Fair%20with%20the%20Abu%20Dhabi%20Translation%20Conference.%20Prolific%20Emirati%20author%20Noora%20Al%20Shammari%2C%20who%20has%20written%20eight%20books%20that%20%20feature%20in%20the%20Ministry%20of%20Education's%20curriculum%2C%20will%20appear%20in%20a%20session%20on%20Wednesday%20to%20discuss%20the%20challenges%20women%20face%20in%20getting%20their%20works%20translated.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3ECompany%20name%3A%20Znap%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EStarted%3A%202017%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EFounder%3A%20Uday%20Rathod%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EBased%3A%20Dubai%2C%20UAE%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EIndustry%3A%20FinTech%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EFunding%20size%3A%20%241m%2B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EInvestors%3A%20Family%2C%20friends%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
