The UAE will seal a place in the Super Six phase of the World Cup qualifier if they beat Scotland in New Zealand on Sunday, thus bringing a place at next year’s finals a step closer.
Aaqib Javed, the national team coach, said before leaving the emirates that he expected Scotland and Nepal to be his side’s closest rivals in the pool stage of the competition.
His forecast has proved mixed so far. The UAE made light work of Nepal in their opening match before going on to ease past Canada.
Progress has not been as smooth as the numbers might suggest, though.
Khurram Khan, the captain, was reprimanded and fined half of his match fee for two discipline breaches in the same incident against Canada.
He advanced “aggressively” towards the umpire Enamul Hoque-Moni while appealing for a run out, then shook his head over a sustained period of time after the appeal was turned down.
He may be fortunate to be available to lead the side against Scotland.
The Scots, meanwhile, have ground to make up in Pool A after losing to Hong Kong at the start of the competition.
Hong Kong, who the UAE face in their final group game, on Thursday, displayed their own qualification credentials by thrashing Canada on Friday.
The side from the Far East are regular rivals for the UAE in continental competition and, as such, the national team will not be overly surprised by the ease with which they dispatched Canada.
It was an impressive show of might by a side who, like the UAE, are well-populated by expatriate players. Tanwir Afzal, Hong Kong’s opening bowler, returned remarkable figures of one for 11 from his 10 overs, which included five maidens.
Then Irfan Ahmed blazed a rapid century as the Asian side won by nine wickets with half of their overs still to spare. “After two good wins confidence in the team is high, but in cricket one bad day at the office can change all that,” said Jamie Atkinson, Hong Kong’s captain.
“We’ve got two tough games coming up against Nepal and UAE, we just need to work on remaining consistent.”
pradley@thenational.ae
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The specs
Engine: four-litre V6 and 3.5-litre V6 twin-turbo
Transmission: six-speed and 10-speed
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The biog
Favourite Quote: “Real victories are those that protect human life, not those that result from its destruction emerge from its ashes,” by The late king Hussain of Jordan.
Favourite Hobby: Writing and cooking
Favourite Book: The Prophet by Gibran Khalil Gibran
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.”
ICC Women's T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier 2025, Thailand
UAE fixtures
May 9, v Malaysia
May 10, v Qatar
May 13, v Malaysia
May 15, v Qatar
May 18 and 19, semi-finals
May 20, final
SPECS
Toyota land Cruiser 2020 5.7L VXR
Engine: 5.7-litre V8
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 362hp
Torque: 530Nm
Price: Dh329,000 (base model 4.0L EXR Dh215,900)
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