Amal Hersi was told by staff at her bank that it had a new policy requiring all customers to remove hats, hoods and sunglasses.
Amal Hersi was told by staff at her bank that it had a new policy requiring all customers to remove hats, hoods and sunglasses.

Bank refuses to serve woman in hijab



NEW YORK // A woman who was refused service at a bank in California because she was wearing the hijab says she has yet to receive an apology from the company. Amal Hersi, 26, said she was reviewing her options but did not comment on whether she planned to file a lawsuit against the Navy Federal Credit Union. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (Cair) said it had asked the department of justice to investigate whether the bank violated her rights. "I never thought in a million years that something like this would happen to me," said Ms Hersi, who used to work as a teacher's assistant at a US Marines base, where she said she never suffered any discrimination.

The bank incident happened on Jan 31 in San Diego, where Ms Hersi is a nursing student. While she was waiting to cash a cheque, Ms Hersi was tapped on the shoulder by a female bank employee and was asked to follow her. "I had to walk past about 40 people in the bank and they started talking among themselves. I felt humiliated, like a criminal," said Ms Hersi, who was born in Somalia and moved to the US with her family when she was eight. "The woman took me to an office where she asked me to wait while she dealt with a customer, as if I wasn't a customer. I felt like a second-class citizen, like a nobody."

Eventually, Ms Hersi was told she would have to take off her headscarf to be served. She explained that wearing the garment was a religious requirement and it did not obscure her eyes or the rest of her face, allowing security cameras to monitor her. But she was told the bank had a new policy requiring all customers to remove hats, hoods and sunglasses. "I told her again the hijab is religiously mandated and I have to wear it but she refused to cash my cheque," Ms Hersi said. Within days of the incident, she contacted Cair. The bank said in a statement that "special consideration for cultural and religious garments is under the discretion of the branch management" and that it was making inquiries into the incident.

Ms Hersi said the bank had apologised to the media but not to her. "They said they would contact me but I haven't heard anything. I'm not sure what I'm going to do but I'm keeping all my options open." Cair, which filed a civil-rights complaint with the local office of the Federal Bureau of Investigations, said it had investigated similar incidents across the country. "Under this bizarre and discriminatory policy, no Muslim woman wearing a headscarf, no Sikh man wearing a turban, no Jewish man wearing a yarmulke, no Catholic nun wearing a habit, no cancer survivor wearing a scarf, no Amish woman wearing a bonnet, and no blind person wearing sunglasses may enter a Navy Federal Credit Union branch nationwide," said Edgar Hopida, a Cair spokesman. The Community Bank of the Bay in Oakland, California, recently apologised to a Muslim woman who was likewise refused service because she wore the hijab. The bank's president blamed the incident on an "overzealous" employee who was "not exercising good judgement". Partly in response to such incidents, Cair produced a booklet titled An Employer's Guide to Islamic Religious Practices to help corporate managers have a better understanding of Muslims. "Banks and companies need to make their policies more precise," Mr Hopida said. "If policies are vague and it's left to employees to make these kinds of decisions, then they'll get more problems and phone calls from us." Meanwhile, some US states appear to be more progressive than others. Oklahoma recently announced that a Muslim driver would be allowed to retake her driver's licence photograph while wearing the hijab. Only the states of Georgia, Kentucky and New Hampshire had not addressed religious accommodation concerns, according to Cair. sdevi@thenational.ae

COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Results:

5pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 1,400m | Winner: Eghel De Pine, Pat Cosgrave (jockey), Eric Lemartinel (trainer)

5.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 1,400m | Winner: AF Sheaar, Szczepan Mazur, Saeed Al Shamsi

6pm: Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan National Day Cup (PA) Group 3 Dh500,000 1,600m | Winner: RB Torch, Fabrice Veron, Eric Lemartinel

6.30pm: Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan National Day Cup (TB) Listed Dh380,000 1,600m | Winner: Forjatt, Chris Hayes, Nicholas Bachalard

7pm: Wathba Stallions Cup for Private Owners Handicap (PA) Dh 70,000 1,400m | Winner: Hawafez, Connor Beasley, Ridha ben Attia

7.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 80,000 1,600m | Winner: Qader, Richard Mullen, Jean de Roaulle

The biog

Nickname: Mama Nadia to children, staff and parents

Education: Bachelors degree in English Literature with Social work from UAE University

As a child: Kept sweets on the window sill for workers, set aside money to pay for education of needy families

Holidays: Spends most of her days off at Senses often with her family who describe the centre as part of their life too

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.”

Business Insights
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Emergency

Director: Kangana Ranaut

Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry 

Rating: 2/5

The%20US%20Congress%2C%20explained
%3Cp%3E-%20US%20Congress%20is%20divided%20into%20two%20chambers%3A%20the%20House%20of%20Representatives%20and%20Senate%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E-%20435%20members%20make%20up%20the%20House%2C%20and%20100%20in%20the%20Senate%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E-%20A%20party%20needs%20control%20of%20218%20seats%20to%20have%20a%20majority%20in%20the%20House%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E-%20In%20the%20Senate%2C%20a%20party%20needs%20to%20hold%2051%20seats%20for%20control%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E-%20In%20the%20event%20of%20a%2050-50%20split%2C%20the%20vice%20president's%20party%20retains%20power%20in%20the%20Senate%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Results

2.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 1,700m; Winner: AF Mezmar, Adam McLean (jockey), Ernst Oertel (trainer).

3pm: Maiden (PA) Dh40,000 2,000m; Winner: AF Ajwad, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel.

3.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 1,200m; Winner: Gold Silver, Sam Hitchcott, Ibrahim Aseel.

4pm: Maiden (PA) Dh40,000 1,000m; Winner: Atrash, Richard Mullen, Ana Mendez.

4.30pm: Gulf Cup Prestige (PA) Dh150,000 1,700m; Winner: AF Momtaz, Saif Al Balushi, Musabah Al Muhairi.

5pm: Handicap (TB) Dh40,000 1,200m; Winner: Al Mushtashar, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: ARDH Collective
Based: Dubai
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Sector: Sustainability
Total funding: Self funded
Number of employees: 4
MATCH INFO

RB Leipzig 2 (Klostermann 24', Schick 68')

Hertha Berlin 2 (Grujic 9', Piatek 82' pen)

Man of the match Matheus Cunha (Hertha Berlin