UAE

Residents love UAE peace, stability

Poll finds 'safety and security', 'religious tolerance and freedom' and 'the modern lifestyle' are what residents like most about living in the UAE.

Vivian Nereim

December 02, 2011

  • English
  • Arabic

Half of the country's residents believe the UAE's greatest achievement is stability and peace, topping the number who chose architecture or "world-class events" in a survey.

The poll was conducted last week for Al Aan TV's Express Nafsak (Express Yourself) and Sabah Al Nour (Good Morning Sunshine) by YouGov Siraj.

Asked what three things they liked most about living here, three quarters (77 per cent) of the 735 UAE residents surveyed chose "safety and security".

The next most popular options were "religious tolerance and freedom" (40 per cent) and "the modern lifestyle" (37 per cent).

The 632 expatriates in the survey were asked the main reason why they decided to live in the UAE.

A quarter (28 per cent) said it was for a good job or good salary, and almost as many (25 per cent) cited a "good quality of living".

Almost half (46 per cent) had lived here for 10 or more years.

Asked how long they planned to live here, (17 per cent) wanted to stay forever. Two in five (41 per cent) did not but had no specific plans to leave.

"That means a lot of people have found a home in the UAE that's far away from where their origins are," said Dana Shadid, the project manager for Al Aan TV.

The survey also asked the citizens and residents about their plans for National Day.

Almost half (45 per cent) wanted to "go out and celebrate with the crowds"; while 64 per cent were looking forward to the fireworks and light shows; 42 per cent hoped to see culture and folklore displays; and 38 per cent were looking forward to time off work.

"I think it's nice that expats feel so much at home that they actually want to celebrate the 40th National Day with Emiratis," said Ms Shadid.

"They all feel like they're all one … which is really beautiful."

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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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