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Saudi policeman shot dead after raid on militants

Attack on Thursday night followed operation in Mecca in which four extremists were killed.

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RIYADH // A Saudi police officer has been shot dead in the Mecca region, the interior ministry said on Friday, after four suspected extremists died during a raid in the same area.

Corporal Khalaf Al Harithi was on duty on Thursday evening when he was hit by gunfire from an unknown source. An investigation is under way.

The killing occurred several hours after officers shot dead two “terrorists” in an exchange of fire at their hideout between Mecca and the mountain resort of Taif, about 80 kilometres to the east.

Two other suspects killed themselves by detonating suicide belts.

On Friday, the ministry identified the four, saying they had been wanted by police.

Saeed Al Shahrani, 49, was sought in connection with the suicide bombing of a mosque inside a Saudi special forces compound in the southwestern city of Abha last August. Fifteen people died.

He was also wanted over an October suicide bombing which killed two at an Ismaili Shiite mosque in the southern city of Najran, and the February shooting of a retired security officer in the Jazan region.

Groups claiming affiliation with ISIL claimed those attacks.

Also killed was Mohammed Al Inzi, 46, who was wanted over suicide bombings at Shiite mosques that killed 25 people last May and June.

Police said he was also involved in the November 2014 shooting of seven Shiite worshippers, which began a series of attacks allegedly linked to ISIL in the kingdom.

The other dead suspects were Mubarak Al Dosari, 25, and Adil Al Majmaj, 27.

Al Majmaj had been arrested in 2013 during a protest demanding the release of hardliner prisoners.

He was an associate of one of two men killed in a shoot-out with police who foiled a car bombing in Bisha, southwestern Aseer region, on April 29.

The interior ministry said Al Majmaj “disappeared from sight and moved around disguised as a woman – wearing a suicide belt”.

After Thursday’s raid police said they found two suicide belts, 15 other “explosive devices” and six firearms.

During a simultaneous operation at a hideout in the Red Sea city of Jeddah two people were arrested.

ISIL leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi has reportedly described Saudi Arabia’s Sunni rulers as “apostate tyrants” and called on Saudis to rise against them.

The extremist group also considers Shiites to be heretics.

* Agence France-Presse

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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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