A photo released by Jordan's royal palace shows King Abdullah taking part in a military drill with Jordanian special forces at an unspecified location in the kingdom. via Reuters
A photo released by Jordan's royal palace shows King Abdullah taking part in a military drill with Jordanian special forces at an unspecified location in the kingdom. via Reuters

Jordan's King Abdullah replaces intelligence chief

Maj Gen Ahmad Husni appointed to take over General Intelligence Directorate from Lt Gen Adnan Jundi

The National

May 03, 2019

Jordan's King Abdullah has appointed Major General Ahmad Husni as the new head of the kingdom's intelligence service.

The appointment of Maj Gen Husni as director of the General Intelligence Department was made by royal decree with effect from May 1, the state Petra news agency reported. He was also promoted from the rank of brigadier general.

He replaces Lieutenant General Adnan Jundi, who was promoted by royal decree from the rank of major general with effect from May 1. A royal decree was also issued accepting the resignation of Lt Gen Jundi from his post as director of the GID, Petra said. He had served in the post since March 2017.

The appointment of Maj Gen Husni, who previously served as director of intelligence in Amman for five years, comes as Jordan faces a threat from extremist militant ideology epitomised by the rise of ISIS in neighbouring Iraq and Syria.

In a public letter to the new GID chief, King Abdullah said he was entrusting Maj Gen Husni to lead the security agency through "an intricate phase" for the region that posed unprecedented challenges to the kingdom.

The king said Jordan had managed to overcome many of these obstacles with the support of the armed forces, the GID and other security bodies, according to the contents of the letter reported by the Jordan Times.

“The GID’s career has been a bright and honorable one, but like any other public institution, it was not void of some transgressions by a small minority that placed its own interests above those of the country, which called for immediate rectification,” the king wrote.

The appointment of a new intelligence chief came a week after King Abdullah made several changes to posts in the royal court. He appointed Bishr Al Khasawneh as his communication and co-ordination adviser, Kamal Al Nasser as policies and information adviser and Manar Al Dabbas and Mohammed Al Assass as his general advisers.

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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.”