International flights arriving and departing from UK airports have been cancelled or delayed after heavy snowfall forced runways to close.
On Monday, Manchester Airport was forced to temporarily close some of its runways, leading to flights to and from Dubai and Abu Dhabi being delayed.
Departure boards showed delays to Etihad flights to Abu Dhabi which were scheduled to leave on Monday afternoon. Emirates flights arriving from Dubai, Egypt and Turkey were also facing disruption.
Heavy snow hit the UK on Sunday, leading to road, rail and airport closures. Severe weather warnings from the Met Office remained in place for large parts of the UK on Monday.
Sunday January 5 was the UK’s coldest night of the winter so far, with a temperature of -13.3ºC recorded in Loch Glascarnoch in the Highlands, between Ullapool and Inverness.
The Environment Agency has issued 166 flood warnings, meaning flooding is expected, and 299 flood alerts, meaning flooding is possible, across England.
In Wales, there are three flood warnings and 34 flood alerts.
Major motorways and rail lines were forced to close and remained shut on Monday.
Manchester Airport said at 7.15am that its two runways had reopened, after reporting at 6.30am that they were closed because of “heavy snow”.
The brief closure has led to many flights to Europe being cancelled and international flights being delayed.
"Some departures and arrivals may still experience delays," Manchester Airport said.
Staff used tractors to clear snow from around aircraft.
The Met Office issued a yellow rain warning for Monday, while a separate warning for snow and ice covers much of northern England and North Wales.
Cold air will return and remain across the whole country from Monday onwards after a brief spell of milder conditions in southern areas, the Met Office said.
Liverpool's John Lennon Airport, Leeds Bradford Airport and Aberdeen Airport were also experiencing delays.
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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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Total customers: Entrupy’s customers include hundreds of secondary resellers, marketplaces and other retail organisations around the world. They are also testing with shipping companies as well as customs agencies to stop fake items from reaching the market in the first place.
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