• Wife and daughter of one of Bashar Al Assad’s cousins arrested at Beirut airport
  • Silent rally calls for action on disappeared Syrians
  • Ukraine sends shipment of grain to Syria
  • Israeli jets struck seven crossing points along the Syria-Lebanon border
  • Iran denies interfering in Syria
  • Mission to defeat ISIS mission remains top US priority
  • Syrians search for relatives whom they believe were detained in secret cells beneath Sednaya prison near Damascus. EPA
    Syrians search for relatives whom they believe were detained in secret cells beneath Sednaya prison near Damascus. EPA
  • Rescue efforts to find prisoners at Sednaya prison continue. EPA
    Rescue efforts to find prisoners at Sednaya prison continue. EPA
  • Israeli soldiers in southern Syria. Reuters
    Israeli soldiers in southern Syria. Reuters
  • Mohammed Bashir, head of US-listed terrorist group Hayat Tahrir Al Sham's Salvation Government, at a press conference in the rebel-held northwestern Syrian city of Idlib in November. AFP
    Mohammed Bashir, head of US-listed terrorist group Hayat Tahrir Al Sham's Salvation Government, at a press conference in the rebel-held northwestern Syrian city of Idlib in November. AFP
  • Crowds gathering at Saadallah Al Jabiri Square in Aleppo. AP
    Crowds gathering at Saadallah Al Jabiri Square in Aleppo. AP
  • Senior insurgent commander Abu Mohammed Al Julani addresses a crowd at Ummayad Mosque in Damascus. Reuters
    Senior insurgent commander Abu Mohammed Al Julani addresses a crowd at Ummayad Mosque in Damascus. Reuters
  • Members of the Syrian government security forces are herded into a field by gunmen in Homs, Syria. EPA
    Members of the Syrian government security forces are herded into a field by gunmen in Homs, Syria. EPA
  • A hall inside the presidential palace gutted by fire after Syrian rebels took over Damascus. EPA
    A hall inside the presidential palace gutted by fire after Syrian rebels took over Damascus. EPA
  • A Syrian rebel fighter fires rounds as people celebrate in Homs after the city's liberation from the stranglehold of the Assad regime. AFP
    A Syrian rebel fighter fires rounds as people celebrate in Homs after the city's liberation from the stranglehold of the Assad regime. AFP
  • People gather to celebrate the Syrian government's fall at a mosque in Istanbul, Turkey. AP
    People gather to celebrate the Syrian government's fall at a mosque in Istanbul, Turkey. AP
  • People gather around Umayyad Square in Damascus. AFP
    People gather around Umayyad Square in Damascus. AFP
  • Rebel fighters cheer from the back of a pick-up truck at Umayyad Square having stormed into the centre of Damascus, Syria. AFP
    Rebel fighters cheer from the back of a pick-up truck at Umayyad Square having stormed into the centre of Damascus, Syria. AFP
  • Syrian government forces cross the border into Iraq at Al Qaim. Reuters
    Syrian government forces cross the border into Iraq at Al Qaim. Reuters
  • A multi-barrel rocket launcher fires at regime troops, in the northern outskirts of Syria's west-central city of Hama. AFP
    A multi-barrel rocket launcher fires at regime troops, in the northern outskirts of Syria's west-central city of Hama. AFP
  • Syrian Kurds flee their homes in the outskirts of Aleppo. AFP
    Syrian Kurds flee their homes in the outskirts of Aleppo. AFP

The Old Slave and the Mastiff

Patrick Chamoiseau

Translated from the French and Creole by Linda Coverdale

Company profile

Name: Steppi

Founders: Joe Franklin and Milos Savic

Launched: February 2020

Size: 10,000 users by the end of July and a goal of 200,000 users by the end of the year

Employees: Five

Based: Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai

Financing stage: Two seed rounds – the first sourced from angel investors and the founders' personal savings

Second round raised Dh720,000 from silent investors in June this year

At Everton Appearances: 77; Goals: 17

At Manchester United Appearances: 559; Goals: 253

Our family matters legal consultant

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

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.”

Crisis in Lebanon
While you're here:

Russia's Muslim Heartlands

Dominic Rubin, Oxford

MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW

Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman

Director: Jesse Armstrong

Rating: 3.5/5

Brief scores:

Kashima Antlers 0

River Plate 4

Zuculini 24', Martinez 73', 90 2', Borre 89' (pen)

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Asia Cup Qualifier

Final
UAE v Hong Kong

TV:
Live on OSN Cricket HD. Coverage starts at 5.30am

Updated: December 29, 2024, 6:11 AM