• Royal fan Margaret Tyler poses amongst her collection of royal memorabilia in her home in north London, Britain, 17 January 2022 (issued 03 February 2022). Tyler, 77, has collected thousands of items about Britain's Royal family. She began collecting 40 years ago, and her collection encompasses four rooms and a bedroom full of memorabilia. The Platinum Jubilee of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II will mark the 70th anniversary of the British monarch's accession to the throne on 06 February 1952. EPA / NEIL HALL ATTENTION: This Image is part of a PHOTO SET
    Royal fan Margaret Tyler poses amongst her collection of royal memorabilia in her home in north London, Britain, 17 January 2022 (issued 03 February 2022). Tyler, 77, has collected thousands of items about Britain's Royal family. She began collecting 40 years ago, and her collection encompasses four rooms and a bedroom full of memorabilia. The Platinum Jubilee of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II will mark the 70th anniversary of the British monarch's accession to the throne on 06 February 1952. EPA / NEIL HALL ATTENTION: This Image is part of a PHOTO SET
  • Ice formations under the Michigan Street Bridge in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. EPA
    Ice formations under the Michigan Street Bridge in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. EPA
  • Hindu devotees offer prayers by rolling on the ground as part of a ritual during the Madhav Narayan festival in Bhaktapur, Kathmandu. AFP
    Hindu devotees offer prayers by rolling on the ground as part of a ritual during the Madhav Narayan festival in Bhaktapur, Kathmandu. AFP
  • A face mask lies on a street in Vienna as the Austrian Federal Council debates mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations for people over 18. EPA
    A face mask lies on a street in Vienna as the Austrian Federal Council debates mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations for people over 18. EPA
  • evian global brand ambassador Emma Raducanu attends an immersive pop-up art installation in London to celebrate the launch of evian sparkling water. Getty Images
    evian global brand ambassador Emma Raducanu attends an immersive pop-up art installation in London to celebrate the launch of evian sparkling water. Getty Images
  • Passersby wearing protective face masks are reflected in mirrors at the Omotesando fashion district in Tokyo. EPA
    Passersby wearing protective face masks are reflected in mirrors at the Omotesando fashion district in Tokyo. EPA
  • Daniel Grassl of Italy takes to the ice in the Men's Single Skating event at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. Reuters
    Daniel Grassl of Italy takes to the ice in the Men's Single Skating event at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. Reuters
  • Migrants cross illegally to Chile from bordering Bolivia. AFP
    Migrants cross illegally to Chile from bordering Bolivia. AFP
  • Moroccan authorities and firefighters work to rescue five-year-old Rayan, who has been trapped in a deep well near Bab Berred in Morocco's rural northern province of Chefchaouen for three days. AFP
    Moroccan authorities and firefighters work to rescue five-year-old Rayan, who has been trapped in a deep well near Bab Berred in Morocco's rural northern province of Chefchaouen for three days. AFP

Today's best photos: from British royal memorabilia to the Beijing Winter Olympics


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Thursday's best photos: from a Great Salt Lake spiral to Palmeiras fans

Wednesday's best photos: from a Spanish sunset to a landslide in Ecuador

Tuesday's best photos: from sunset at Hudayriyat to Lunar New Year

Monday's best photos: from an upside-down house to civilian militia training in Kiev

Sunday's best photos: from Quoz Arts Fest to Oman Rally

Saturday's best photos: from Lunar New Year costumes to a robot barista in China

The story of Edge

Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, established Edge in 2019.

It brought together 25 state-owned and independent companies specialising in weapons systems, cyber protection and electronic warfare.

Edge has an annual revenue of $5 billion and employs more than 12,000 people.

Some of the companies include Nimr, a maker of armoured vehicles, Caracal, which manufactures guns and ammunitions company, Lahab

 

The alternatives

• Founded in 2014, Telr is a payment aggregator and gateway with an office in Silicon Oasis. It’s e-commerce entry plan costs Dh349 monthly (plus VAT). QR codes direct customers to an online payment page and merchants can generate payments through messaging apps.

• Business Bay’s Pallapay claims 40,000-plus active merchants who can invoice customers and receive payment by card. Fees range from 1.99 per cent plus Dh1 per transaction depending on payment method and location, such as online or via UAE mobile.

• Tap started in May 2013 in Kuwait, allowing Middle East businesses to bill, accept, receive and make payments online “easier, faster and smoother” via goSell and goCollect. It supports more than 10,000 merchants. Monthly fees range from US$65-100, plus card charges of 2.75-3.75 per cent and Dh1.2 per sale.

2checkout’s “all-in-one payment gateway and merchant account” accepts payments in 200-plus markets for 2.4-3.9 per cent, plus a Dh1.2-Dh1.8 currency conversion charge. The US provider processes online shop and mobile transactions and has 17,000-plus active digital commerce users.

• PayPal is probably the best-known online goods payment method - usually used for eBay purchases -  but can be used to receive funds, providing everyone’s signed up. Costs from 2.9 per cent plus Dh1.2 per transaction.

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.”

Dhadak 2

Director: Shazia Iqbal

Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri 

Rating: 1/5

The Voice of Hind Rajab

Starring: Saja Kilani, Clara Khoury, Motaz Malhees

Director: Kaouther Ben Hania

Rating: 4/5

Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale

Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni

Director: Amith Krishnan

Rating: 3.5/5

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Updated: February 04, 2022, 6:30 PM