Indonesian embassy in drive to register citizens for elections

ABU DHABI // Indonesian expatriates have less than two weeks to register for their country's national elections next year. Abdi Satya Utama, the second secretary at the Indonesian embassy, said it was especially keen to register the thousands of Indonesians employed as maids and nannies. "The deadline of the registration is on Nov 20," said Mr Utama. "Housemaids are encouraged [to register] but it is difficult to reach them since they are inside their employers' homes."

There are an estimated 75,000 Indonesians in the UAE, of whom 30,000 are in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and Ruwais, according to the Ministry of Interior. About 70 per cent of those are nannies and housemaids. The national election is being held on April 9. Indonesian citizens who are 17 on or before that date are eligible to vote. Married citizens aged under 17 are also granted voting rights. The embassy said it was using newspaper and radio advertisements, information sheets and text messages to warn of the deadline.

Volunteers are also distributing registration forms to Indonesian restaurants, community centres and offices. An Indonesian overseas election committee in charge of registration and voting has been set up in Abu Dhabi. The telephone numbers of the committee in Abu Dhabi are 050-7125836 and 050-7125837. Indonesian citizens can access the overseas election committee's website at www.ppln-abudhabi.org. .

Indonesians should fill out a registration form distributed by the committee. In Abu Dhabi, they can visit the embassy with their forms, fax them to 02-4455453, or e-mail a scanned copy of the registration form to sekretariat@ppln-abudhabi.org. Residents of Dubai and the northern Emirates can submit the forms at the consulate or fax them to 04-3980804. The national election commission in Jakarta will send the ballots to the diplomatic missions next year. Registered voters will be able to cast their ballots at the embassy and at the consulate. Voters could also send their ballots by mail.

rruiz@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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