ABU DHABI // The Ministry of Labour plans to work on new Emiratisation policies, the ministry undersecretary has said.
At a meeting earlier this week with members of the Federal National Council, Humaid bin Deemas spoke of the ministry’s plan for the next three years, assuring them that Emiratisation was a top priority.
He told members that Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, has asked the ministry to ensure Emiratisation figures increase tenfold over the next seven years.
He acknowledged the challenge, and said the ministry planned to work with its partners to set policies in line with current laws. The ministry is only mandated to regulate the private and semi-government sector in the country.
Mr bin Deemas added that the ministry would redevelop its strategy of categorising businesses. Currently categories are based on talent, Emiratisation quotas and company breaches.
He said the ministry would continue to bring in the best expatriate talent.
He noted that in a recent international survey, the Global Talent Competitiveness Index, the UAE was ranked 19th for attracting talent.
“We were among 20 other western countries, no other Arab countries were higher,” he said. “If we are at 19th place now, we can be 15 or 10 soon. If we want to be the first worldwide, we will.”
He said one of the ways the ministry was making good use of the current workforce was allowing women on their husband’s or father’s visa a two-year work permit. There are about 50,000 people in this category, mostly working at schools and hair salons.
Salim Al Ameri, an FNC member from Abu Dhabi, told Mr bin Deemas that some people have complained to that the permit was not subject to renewal after two years and needed to be reprocessed all over again, Mr bin Deemas said the two processes could be done online and were hassle-free.
In the area of inspections, Mr bin Deemas said the ministry would go beyond conventional methods of “getting an inspector, give them a car and tell them to go and inspect. We must now think of smart inspections and inspections that are not foreseen,” he said.
He said with more than 30,000 establishments in the country, the task was daunting.
“We cannot inspect all, we should know where to go,” he said. “With smart inspections, we will know where to go and hit a live target.”
Since 2000, the ministry has been feeding a database with information on all companies in the country.
“Much like the wages protection system, which not only tells us who doesn’t pay wages, but it also tells us about the relationship employers have with employers,” he said. “So that even before inspections, we know that this is a place to inspect.”
osalem@thenational.ae
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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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