Former UK Prime Minister David Cameron has admitted he is “desperately” worried about what will happen to the country after Brexit.
Mr Cameron, whose decision to hold a referendum on the UK’s European Union membership led to Brexit, also appeared to criticise fellow Conservative MPs who said the UK was powerless to stop Turkey joining the bloc.
He was giving his first interview to promote his new book that details his time as opposition leader, Downing Street and Brexit.
"I think about this every day. Every single day I think about it, the referendum and the fact that we lost and the consequences and the things that could have been done differently, and I worry desperately about what is going to happen next," he told The Times.
"I think we can get to a situation where we leave but we are friends, neighbours and partners. We can get there, but I would love to fast-forward to that moment because it’s painful for the country and it’s painful to watch.”
Asked if he had trouble sleeping, Mr Cameron said: “I worry about it a lot. I worry about it a lot.”
The former UK prime minister, who backed the Remain campaign, said the referendum result in 2016 left him “hugely depressed”.
“I was miserable about giving up the job I loved working for the country I loved,” Mr Cameron added.
Within hours of losing the European referendum – by 52 per cent to 48 per cent – Mr Cameron announced his resignation.
“Look, having a referendum was not a decision that I took in any way lightly,” Mr Cameron said, adding that there was “huge political pressure” in the UK’s fraught relationship with Europe.
Mr Cameron said he hoped the book would explain why he felt a referendum was inevitable.
“I totally recognise the uncertainty has been painful and difficult. It’s been difficult for all sorts of people in all sorts of walks of life,” said Mr Cameron, who has been heavily criticised in some parts for holding the referendum in 2016 and who has kept a low public profile ever since.
He also hit out at Eurosceptic MPs such as Mr Johnson who had warned against Turkey potentially joining the EU against the will of some member nations of the bloc.
“Well, it was ridiculous. There was a moment when I think it was Penny Mordaunt said on a Sunday morning show, ‘We have no power to stop Turkey joining the EU.’ It’s just not true,” said Mr Cameron.
The UK has still not left the EU and parliament is at loggerheads over what to do next.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants to depart with a new, negotiated withdrawal agreement with Brussels but says he is prepared to leave without a deal on October 31, which critics say would devastate the UK economy.
His predecessor Theresa May delayed Brexit after seeing her divorce deal rejected by parliament three times.
When asked if he would change his decision if he had known the political upheaval it would cause, Mr Cameron remained convinced that the threat of a referendum was essential to British negotiations with Europe.
“I don’t think we would have got anywhere,” Mr Cameron said before again underlining his belief that a referendum was inevitable
“I think the referendum was both necessary to achieve anything in the renegotiation and necessary in and of itself, because it was coming.”
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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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