Leaders losing patience with Tehran

The international community said it was losing patience with Iran after news broke that the country had been building a covert nuclear facility for several years.

The international community said it was losing patience with Iran after news broke that the country had been building a covert nuclear facility for several years, and called on Tehran to open the plant to the UN's nuclear inspectors. German Chancellor Angela Merkel described the revelation of the second nuclear site as "a grave development" and called on Iran to answer questions from the International Atomic Energy Agency about it "as quickly as possible".

Germany is one of six countries meeting next week with Iran to try to convince Tehran to abandon its nuclear programme. Mrs Merkel said she would wait to see the reactions of Russia and China, which are part of the October 1 meeting but which have been more reluctant to take a firm line on Iran. Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said she hoped Iran's revelation that it had a second fuel site near the holy city of Qom would win over those who doubted the US "dual track" strategy of threatening sanctions while offering incentives to Iran to abandon enriching uranium.

Susan Rice, US ambassador to the UN, said the revelation placed greater emphasis on the October 1 talks. "This is a very crucial opportunity for Iran to come clean and create a greater degree of confidence in its declared non-military intentions and to provide full transparency," she said. Russia, which earlier this week opened the door to backing potential new sanctions against Iran as a reward to Mr Obama's decision to scale back a US missile shield in Eastern Europe, appeared to be losing patience with Tehran.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said the plant was "a source of serious concern" and violated several demands by the Security Council for Iran to halt all enrichment activities. It urged Iran to show "convincing proof of its intention to develop nuclear energy solely for peaceful aims" at the October 1 talks. "Exposed evidence that Iran is building a new enrichment plant only strengthens our determination to achieve concrete and verifiable results in the nearest future," Mr Medvedev said in a statement.

China, which has consistently opposed sanctions, called for dialogue and urged Tehran to work with the IAEA. An Israeli defence official, reacting to the revelation, told the Wall Street Journal: "Nothing surprises us. We know the direction that Iran is going. We think it's a problem for the whole world." The official declined to comment on whether Israel knew about the specific installation, though he predicted there would be more revelations about the Iranian nuclear programme.

"They have a good reason to cover up what they are doing," he said. The official said the international commission on atomic energy has not been making enough of an effort to expose the extent of the nuclear programme. He said he hoped the revelation would help prod the US into more forceful action. "It should strengthen the realisation among the Americans that the Iranians are making a joke of them and playing for time," he said.

"There is the beginning of an understanding in the West and in Russia, that [Iran's nuclear programme] is advancing to a place where they don't want to." newsdesk@thenational.ae

The 12 Syrian entities delisted by UK 

Ministry of Interior
Ministry of Defence
General Intelligence Directorate
Air Force Intelligence Agency
Political Security Directorate
Syrian National Security Bureau
Military Intelligence Directorate
Army Supply Bureau
General Organisation of Radio and TV
Al Watan newspaper
Cham Press TV
Sama TV

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets

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.”