UAE

Letters: Political ugliness in Sri Lanka was ignored

Letters I felt frustrated reading your story on Sri Lanka ("A calmer shore", Jan 30). I do not understand why the current political ugliness in Sri Lanka was ignored.

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I felt frustrated reading your story on Sri Lanka ("A calmer shore", Jan 30). Though it appears to me to be a promotion piece from the Sri Lankan tourism ministry, I do not understand why Gill Charlton ignored the current political ugliness in Sri Lanka, where the opposition candidate of the concluded presidential elections is reportedly fleeing for his life. The country is more divided along ethnic lines than ever before, leaving the future more unpredictable with upcoming parliamentary elections ahead. Sandy Vadi, Ontario, Canada

Unfortunately, there are many countries around the world that we would boycott if we judged them purely on their politics. The job of a travel writer is to offer a different perspective, without ignoring political realities. Gill Charlton travelled to Sri Lanka independently as a journalist interested in seeing areas of the country that have recently opened to tourists. She did not receive assistance from the Sri Lankan tourism ministry. She described Sri Lanka, including the eastern part, as she saw it - in Passikuda and Kalkudah, for example, "Piles of crushed bricks and concrete, plastic piping and ceramic tiles scattered across the coconut groves are all that remains of its heyday." She also referred to the "ongoing controversy over the internment camps for Tamil civilians" on the Jaffna Peninsula, which is still off-limits to tourists. Other articles by us on this subject have, we believe, been similarly balanced. Gill Charlton's piece was written before the elections of last week, but the country's political failings should not, in our view, prevent tourists from visiting the country or be used to deprive Sri Lankan people of much-needed income.

Do you have travel questions or queries? If so, e-mail them to us at travel@thenational.ae

Neighbourhood Watch

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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