Five UN security staff who were kidnapped in Yemen 18 months ago have been released.
UN Humanitarian Co-ordinator for Yemen David Gressly met the freed men and the head of Yemen's Southern Transitional Council whose forces helped secure the release of the hostages, who were seized in Abyan province 18 months ago by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
Mr Gressly said he was extremely pleased to see his Yemeni colleagues in good health in Aden.
“All five of our staff are receiving support. They are in good spirits and are in contact with their families,” he said.
Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, said on Friday, when their release was first reported: “The Secretary General is delighted to learn of the release of Akm Sufiul Anam, Mazen Bawazir, Bakeel Al Mahdi, Mohammed Al-Mulaiki and Khaled Mokhtar Sheikh.”
He thanked the state of Oman for its role in helping negotiate the release.
“It did take a lot of patience and a lot of negotiation. We're very sorry to the families of those concerned that it's taken such a long time,” he said.
“The Secretary General is profoundly relieved that their ordeal and the anxiety of their families and friends have finally come to an end.”
Mr Guterres described the kidnapping as an “inhumane and unjustifiable crime” and called for “the perpetrators to be held accountable”.
“He also expresses his solidarity with other people still held against their will in Yemen.”
A State Department representative told The National that the US welcomed the release of the five staff members.
“We call for those responsible to be held accountable,” the representative said.
Yemen has been mired in violence since the Iran-aligned Houthi movement ousted the government from the capital, Sanaa, in late 2014, prompting a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia to intervene months later.
Among Yemen's many destabilising forces are Al Qaeda and ISIS, which have carried out attacks including in the south, where protests broke out last year over deteriorating economic conditions.
The war has killed tens of thousands of people and caused a dire humanitarian crisis with 80 per cent of Yemen's population reliant on aid.
Kidnappings are frequent in the impoverished nation where armed tribesmen and militants take hostages to swap for prisoners or cash.
However, Mr Haq clarified the UN's stance, saying it never provides payment in exchange for hostages.
“We do not encourage the payment of ransoms since that would simply place all of our other staff members at risk,” he told reporters in New York at a press briefing.
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.”
