Mohammed bin Rashid: Sheikh Zayed was 'the humanitarian leader'

ABU DHABI // Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, has praised the founding President Sheikh Zayed at a Ramadan gathering.

"I have dealt with a number of world leaders for decades but did not meet one like the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan," said Sheikh Mohammed, who was speaking about Emirates Humanitarian Work Day. "He was humble and a philanthropist."

The Humanitarian Work Day, Sheikh Mohammed’s initiative, coincides with the anniversary of Sheikh Zayed’s death.

In the lead-up to the celebration, which takes place on the 19th day of Ramadan, his other initiative to clothe one million needy children has been a success, reaching its goal in 10 days.

It was announced this week that it would continue.

“When we talk about Sheikh Zayed, we need more evenings,” state news agency Wam quoted the Vice President as saying.

“The best thing could be said about Sheikh Zayed is that he was the humanitarian leader.”

Sheikh Mohammed said the country was continuing to follow in the footsteps of Sheikh Zayed, which would help its people to prosper.

All Emiratis, he said, were serving their country well. Sheikh Mohammed also made special note of Emirati women, saying they were “among the best worldwide in terms of university education”.

Other topics included Emiratisation, which he said was a priority for the Government.

“We have excelled in all fields.” Sheikh Mohammed said. “I want Emirati people to continue working harder and looking forward to becoming number one. This is an endeavour [the President] Sheikh Khalifa is looking for.”

Ties among GCC countries were also brought up at the event.

“It is a motivation for us to develop our capacities to deal with the changes with wisdom to ensure security and stability,” Sheikh Mohammed said, referring to the Arab Spring.

“We hope for Arab countries, especially Egypt, to restore stability for their significant strategic depth to the Arab region.”

newsdesk@thenational.ae

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Yemen's Bahais and the charges they often face

The Baha'i faith was made known in Yemen in the 19th century, first introduced by an Iranian man named Ali Muhammad Al Shirazi, considered the Herald of the Baha'i faith in 1844.

The Baha'i faith has had a growing number of followers in recent years despite persecution in Yemen and Iran.

Today, some 2,000 Baha'is reside in Yemen, according to Insaf.

"The 24 defendants represented by the House of Justice, which has intelligence outfits from the uS and the UK working to carry out an espionage scheme in Yemen under the guise of religion.. aimed to impant and found the Bahai sect on Yemeni soil by bringing foreign Bahais from abroad and homing them in Yemen," the charge sheet said.

Baha'Ullah, the founder of the Bahai faith, was exiled by the Ottoman Empire in 1868 from Iran to what is now Israel. Now, the Bahai faith's highest governing body, known as the Universal House of Justice, is based in the Israeli city of Haifa, which the Bahais turn towards during prayer.

The Houthis cite this as collective "evidence" of Bahai "links" to Israel - which the Houthis consider their enemy.

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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.”