Explosion at Afghan mosque kills 33 in Kunduz

A Taliban official says a bombing at a Sunni mosque and religious school in northern Afghanistan on Friday killed at least 33 people, including students of a religious school.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted news of the devastating bombing in the town of Imam Saheb, in Kunduz Province, saying it also wounded another 43 people, many of them students.

He added efforts were being made to apprehend the "evil elements" behind the attack on Mawlavi Sikandar mosque.

No group has claimed responsibility for the blast.

Images posted to social media which could not be immediately verified showed holes blown through the walls of the mosque.

A nurse at a nearby district hospital told AFP over the phone that between 30 to 40 casualties had been admitted from the blast.

"The people had gathered to worship in the mosque, and a blast happened," an eyewitness also told AFP over the phone. "There were a lot of casualties, around 30 to 40 people were injured and killed."

The blast follows a series of attacks on Afghanistan's minority Shiite community in recent weeks, including an explosion at a Shiite mosque in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif on Thursday.

The local affiliate of extremist group ISIS claimed responsibility for Thursday's attack on its Telegram channel.

Islamic State in Khorasan Province — or IS-K — said the explosive device that devastated Mazar-e-Sharif’s Sai Doken mosque was hidden in a bag left inside among scores of worshippers. As they knelt in prayer, it exploded.

“When the mosque was filled with [people praying], the explosives were detonated remotely,” the extremists said.

The group claimed 100 people were injured in the blast. Some reports said 11 people were killed in the attack.

The Taliban say they have arrested a former IS-K leader in northern Balkh province, of which Mazar-i-Sharif is the capital.

Zabihullah Noorani, information and culture department chief in Balkh province, said Abdul Hamid Sangaryar was detained in connection with Thursday’s mosque attack.

Taliban officials insist their forces have defeated the group but analysts say ISIS terrorists remain a key security challenge.

Since seizing power last summer, the Taliban have regularly raided suspected ISIS hideouts in the eastern Nangarhar province.

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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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