Let us not kid ourselves — 2016 has been a pretty rough year for this planet. What with surprising political results and a never-ceasing gloom caused by celebrity deaths, it has been a good year for obituarists alone.
But cricket’s year has not been such a bad one, and given its anachronistic nature that feels just about right.
Four different teams have been on top of the Test rankings table for brief periods. The same flux has been in evidence for individual rankings for batsmen and bowlers.
From England’s win in South Africa to Sri Lanka’s win against Australia, Pakistan’s draw in England and South Africa’s triumph in Australia, the year has thrown up consistently unexpected results.
Home comforts
Of all the teams that have made it to the top this year, India’s rise feels like it could last the longest.
Scheduling has helped as they are currently amid the longest-home season they have ever had. They are so dominant at home that it is difficult to see how any side will reduce that gap over the next few months.
Their truest tests will always come in venues in England and Australia, of course, but there is a pleasing completeness about the side right now.
They have some of the best batsmen in the world, one of the two best spinners in the world and a group of fine pacemen.
It is difficult to see them being beaten at home any time in the near future.
The underdog tale
Perhaps this was the year’s most heart-warming story.
A team exiled from their home, six years in the making, led by a late-blooming 42 year old, full of an atypically hardworking squad, rising to the very top for the first time since official rankings began.
It is, of course, typical that Pakistan’s fall since has been pretty swift, but nobody can have begrudged them their brief time at the summit in the summer. And in that time, before the surprise Test loss to the West Indies and series loss in New Zealand, they genuinely played like one of the best sides in the world.
The batting had matured and the bowling was skilled and varied.
The sheen has gone a little but any result against a faltering Australia may restore it.
Call me inconsistency
Ask yourself how and why England are not the most dominant side of this era? They are among the best-resourced, the best-prepared. They have a line-up that has options coming out of its ears. They can utilise an attack of six bowlers and still bat down to No 10.
And yet this year, so far, they have lost as many Tests as they have won (six) and are likely to end with more losses than wins.
In a year that began with a stirring triumph in South Africa, that has to be a step backward. It is mostly the result of their travels to Asia, where, clearly they still have problems.
At key spots in the line-up they have been unable to find solutions.
At times their flexibility has actually worked against them.
This is a low
Still most Englishmen would have smiled through a lot of the year simply because of how bad Australia have been for most of it.
Australia gave no clue at the disintegration that was to come when they beat New Zealand early in the year.
Their troubles began in now familiar fashion — a complete inability to play in Asian conditions.
They were dissected in Sri Lanka, much like they had been in the UAE and India.
An inability to play spin is bad enough, but when the batsmen cannot play seam and swing either — as seen in the loss to South Africa recently — then the outlook is especially bleak.
They are in the midst of deep introspection currently.
Even a decent result against Pakistan will likely be short-lived, as they go to India early next year.
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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.”
