The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office has issued its latest guidance for tourists and expatriates visiting the UAE after a spate of high profile legal cases.
Scotsman Billy Barclay has returned home after spending weeks under house arrest following an arrest over allegations of using counterfeit currency in the UAE, a charge he denied and was later proven to be a mistake.
The case of another Scottish visitor, Jamie Harron, 27, remains ongoing following allegations he touched another man inappropriately in the Rock Bottom bar in Barsha Heights.
Mr Harron was arrested five months ago and faces charges of indecency that carry a five-year prison term.
The FCO has faced criticism in UK media for not providing adequate support for those arrested, and advising family members to refrain from contacting media outlets to raise the profile of such cases.
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Read more:
Scottish tourist detained in Dubai over 'forged £20 note' is released
Scottish tourist in court over incident in packed Dubai bar
UAE’s indecency laws explained after public gestures land westerners in trouble
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British Ambassador to the UAE, Philip Parham has said the consular support offered is limited, but most visits remain trouble free.
“In light of the recent interest, I would like to address a few points related to the UK’s consular service and travel advice,” he said.
“Fortunately, most stays in the UAE are trouble-free. The nature of consular work means that our team become involved when something has gone wrong.
“These can be highly distressing cases. Our team is there to provide support to the individuals and their partners and families.
“This support can include issuing emergency travel documents, visiting British people in hospital or in prison, or providing advice when they have fallen victim to crime.
“For people in detention our staff are there to support them and take an interest in their welfare.”
More than 100,000 British people live in the UAE and another 1.5 million visit every year.
In 2017 so far there have been 213 new detainee cases, in 2016 there were 281 cases in total.
The FCO consular network helped more than 23,000 people last year as well as continuing to help those with long-running cases from previous years.
The Foreign Office doesn’t promote any country as a holiday destination, but does publish travel advice on 225 countries or territories to help British people make better-informed decisions about their foreign travel.
“There are, however, limits to the support we can provide,” Mr Parham said.
“We cannot interfere in the legal processes or prison systems of other countries, just as we would not allow other governments to interfere in ours.
“But we do make representations if we have good grounds to believe that, for example, the host country’s own laws are not being properly followed, or a British person is being held in conditions which fall short of international standards.
"Our travel advice for the UAE explains that local laws and customs are very different to those in the UK and that there may be serious penalties for doing something which may not be illegal in the UK.
"But we understand that, regardless of how prepared we all are, British people can still find themselves in difficult or distressing situations, and we are ready to help on those occasions."
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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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Don’ts
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- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
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