ABU DHABI // The Ministry of Interior was honoured with 16 awards at the Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Government Excellence Awards at a ceremony on Wednesday.
The awards, in their third episode, have been renamed under the orders of the President, Sheikh Khalifa, to honour the pursuit of excellence and innovation in government services by Sheikh Mohammed, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai.
“Sheikh Mohammed represents excellence in our country,” said Sheikh Khalifa.
“Our Government has managed to become one of the leading governments and our people are one of the happiest in the world.
“Our leadership has set a trend in best practices with its style of functioning.”
Sheikh Mohammed was at the ceremony on Wednesday to pay tribute to this year’s winners, chosen as the best performing of the country’s government bodies, at the Emirates Palace hotel in the capital.
“Government work in the UAE is driven by the concepts of excellence and innovation, which are the outcome of the efforts, loyalty and devotion of the citizens of this country,” he said.
“The UAE citizens are working to improve government action and therefore the UAE’s talents, and innovators are key pillars of any development activity taking place in the nation.
“We will continue to give them full support and encouragement, enabling them to be more creative according to the requirements of the next phase of the nation-building process.
“Accumulating positive results leads to excellence.”
The name change, from the Sheikh Khalifa Government Excellence Awards, was announced on Wednesday by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs.
The Ministry of Interior’s awards were the most for any government body. It also took the category of Outstanding Federal Ministry with more than 900 employees.
The Ministry of Finance won the award for Outstanding Federal Ministry with fewer than 900 employees.
The Emirates Identity Authority won the award for Outstanding Federal Authority with more than 900 employees, while the General Authority for Civil Aviation won the same award with fewer than 900 employees.
More than 1,200 government officials attended the awards ceremony, part of the Sheikh Khalifa Government Excellence Programme.
The awards aim to help federal public institutions improve, support a health economy and unify their management practice.
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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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