Australia are prepared for a "difficult challenge", said leg-spinner Adam Zampa, when the depleted tourists face Pakistan in the one-day international series starting on Tuesday.
In their first tour of Pakistan in 24 years, Australia won the three-match Test series 1-0 after securing a well earned 115-run victory in the third match in Lahore on Friday.
But they will miss regulars including David Warner, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Glenn Maxwell – all not in the squad for various reasons – in the ODI series.
To add to their woes, senior batsman Steve Smith was also ruled out of the limited-overs series with a recurrence of an elbow injury, but Zampa believes it's an opportunity to build the squad.
"It's going to be a difficult challenge," Zampa said. "The plus that comes from that, as it always does when these things happen, is you build depth."
The new-look squad includes Sean Abbott and Ben McDermott, who have both played two ODIs, Cameron Green, who has played in one, and debutants Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Josh Inglis and Mitchell Swepson.
Zampa said all three-format players needed rest.
"We have seen, particularly in the last couple of years, that being a three-format player, it's really hard sometimes. Players like Cummins, Warner and Smith, they need that break and that's definitely understandable," he said.
"When you have so much inexperience in one team it does make it really hard. It s definitely will be a challenge and hopefully we get through as these series are very important to us.
"If we come through with a series win with inexperience then it will be a really nice feeling."
Zampa, 29, feels confident of his place after getting backing from limited over captain Aaron Finch.
"I feel like I don't have to look over my shoulder too much with selection," Zampa said. "When you're younger, you naturally probably look over your shoulder, you doubt yourself a lot more.
"Aaron Finch has helped me massively with my game. He backs me in when I'm out there, and he lets me run my own show with my bowling, and has been really good with his own ideas as well."
The remaining two matches are on Thursday and Saturday, also in Lahore. Australia will then end the tour with a single Twenty20 international, also in Lahore, on April 5.
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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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