Sharjah gets more centres to process ID cards

SHARJAH // The Emirates Identity Authority is opening more registration centres to cope with congestion at their main Sharjah office in Al Taawun Mall amid the rush to obtain national ID cards. As many as five locations are expected to be launched in coming weeks at different government departments, said Ahmed Obaid al Bah, the director of the Sharjah registration centre, at the opening of a centre at the municipality office.

"The departments that have been chosen are those that require the resident to have an ID card before making transactions with them," he said. They include the Sharjah Traffic Department, the Department of Naturalisation and Residency and the Hamriya and Airport free zones. The newest registration office will deal with municipal employees in the first few weeks and will then begin serving their families, said Sultan al Muallah, the director general of Sharjah Municipality.

After that, people who want to complete transactions with the municipality, such as tenancy contract renewals, will be assisted. "We have more than 4,000 employees and half of them have not yet registered and need registration," he said. "If we are to let them go to the Al Taawun Mall centre to register, with the long queues there it will cause a standstill in our work." The municipality office was handling about 50 employees a day, Mr Muallah said. Only male employees are being assisted, as there are not yet facilities for female workers, he said.

The authority had previously announced that anyone without a national ID card would be denied a driving licence. Renewal of car registrations and many other services will also be withheld from those who have not registered. As a result, long queues have formed at the Al Taawun Mall registration centre. Several residents have complained that they were not able to register for two days. "I had been in the queue from morning and by midday, after failing to see any prospect of registering, I decided to go to work and return on another day," said one resident who requested anonymity.

"On the second day, I was only able to register after four hours of waiting." @Email:ykakande@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.”