Bobsleigh crashes add to track fears

The two-man bobsleigh heats were marred by crashes involving the Canadian, Liechtenstein, British and Australian sleds, heightening concerns about the safety of the Whistler Sliding Centre track. The Canada 1 sleigh driven by Lyndon Rush with brakeman Lascelles Brown flipped while leading the competition in the second round. They came to grief at the infamous 13th turn, which has been nicknamed "50-50" by some drivers because that is reckoned to be the chances of coming through it unscathed.

Earlier, Switzerland's Beat Hefti, top-ranked in the world in the two-man, withdrew with a head injury after crashing in Wednesday's training. The track seems to be too scary for some drivers, including an American woman pilot who made her feelings known after training runs earlier Saturday. "You're standing at the top and you're thinking you're ready to vomit," said Bree Schaaf, the driver of USA3. "All the alarms are going through your head. It's like 'mayday, mayday,' but the maydays don't stop until [turn] 16." The German pairing of Andre Lange and Kevin Kuske led the field after the men's first two rounds.

Andrea Fischbacher swept to gold in the Alpine skiing Super-G and denied the American star Lindsey Vonn a speed event double on Whistler Mountain. Vonn, who won gold in the downhill, led when she clocked 1min 20.88sec, but Fischbacher negotiated the tricky course superbly to post a winning time of 1min 20.14sec and secure Austria's first Alpine gold of the Games. Slovenia's Tina Maze took a surprise silver and Vonn, who has the giant slalom and slalom to come, had to settle for a bronze. Holland's Mark Tuitert caused an upset in the men's 1500m speedskating, claiming the gold medal ahead of Shani Davis, the American favourite, . Tuitert, skating in the third last pairing, posted a time of 1min 45.57sec, and watched as the final two pairings failed to overhaul him. Apolo Anton Ohno's bronze in the men's 1000m speedskating final was his seventh Olympic medal, the most in the Winter Olympics for any American athlete. He overhauled another speed skater, Bonnie Blair.

Le Jung-Su took the gold for Korea in an Olympic record time of 1:23.747 and his countryman Lee Ho-Suk claimed silver in 1:23.801. Zhou Yang of China won gold in the women's short track speedskating 1500m in an Olympic record time of 2min 16.993sec. In the ice hockey men's preliminaries, Switzerland edged Norway 5-4 and Slovakia beat Latvia 6-0. * With agencies

MATCH INFO

Day 2 at Mount Maunganui

England 353

Stokes 91, Denly 74, Southee 4-88

New Zealand 144-4

Williamson 51, S Curran 2-28

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.”

On Women's Day

Dr Nawal Al-Hosany: Why more women should be on the frontlines of climate action

Samar Elmnhrawy: How companies in the Middle East can catch up on gender equality

The National Editorial: Is there much to celebrate on International Women's Day 2021?

Justin Thomas: Challenge the notion that 'men are from Mars, women are from Venus'

The specs

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THE BIO

Favourite car: Koenigsegg Agera RS or Renault Trezor concept car.

Favourite book: I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes or Red Notice by Bill Browder.

Biggest inspiration: My husband Nik. He really got me through a lot with his positivity.

Favourite holiday destination: Being at home in Australia, as I travel all over the world for work. It’s great to just hang out with my husband and family.