It has been more than a week since the full-time maid employed by "Sarah" and her family was taken into hospital after voicing fears about her mental state.
"She's been here 14 months and just had her contract renewed," said Sarah, from the UK. "She was due to go home next month for seven weeks, but basically she had a breakdown.
"She went from being completely normal one day, albeit a little quiet, to hearing voices and seeing things. She thought she was dying."
Less than two days after speaking to her employer the maid, 33, from the Philippines, was "catatonic".
"She was completely gone so we took her to the hospital," said Sarah.
The doctor who is overseeing the maid's case told Sarah that incidents like this are common.
"I imagine this is how some of these incidents happen," she said. "Our maid said to us that she didn't want to be around our baby because she was worried she would hurt him. I don't think she would, but she was scared."
In the hospital ward where the maid is staying, more than a quarter of the other patients are there for similar reasons, said the mother of one.
But the problem lies in the way these women are treated, as opposed to whether or not they have had a psychiatric evaluation before coming to the UAE, she said.
"A lot of the women who work here, they don't have days off and they don't get paid sufficiently. They are worried about supporting their families," Sarah said.
The doctor said the reason for the maid's sudden breakdown could be attributed to an incident in her past that she might have been too afraid to speak about, such as a physical attack.
"It could be buried so deep that she might not even remember," Sarah said.
"The worry and the stress and the embarrassment of it has built up over time.
"She may have thought we'd find out about it and be angry."
When their maid is discharged, the family has been advised by doctors to cancel her visa.
The woman, her family's sole breadwinner, is due to fly home.
"She's great and we love her, but perhaps the pressure [she felt] to be perfect was too much," said Sarah.
* Zaineb Al Hassani
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How much do leading UAE’s UK curriculum schools charge for Year 6?
- Nord Anglia International School (Dubai) – Dh85,032
- Kings School Al Barsha (Dubai) – Dh71,905
- Brighton College Abu Dhabi - Dh68,560
- Jumeirah English Speaking School (Dubai) – Dh59,728
- Gems Wellington International School – Dubai Branch – Dh58,488
- The British School Al Khubairat (Abu Dhabi) - Dh54,170
- Dubai English Speaking School – Dh51,269
*Annual tuition fees covering the 2024/2025 academic year
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.”
