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Britain is providing £45 million ($56.1 million) in funding to help the most vulnerable people in Ukraine and at its borders, the UK government has said.
The money will go to UN agencies and charities delivering aid and supporting survivors of sexual violence in the war-torn nation, from which the Russian invasion has forced millions of people to flee.
This means the UK’s full £220 million humanitarian aid package for Ukraine has been allocated.
UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: “Britain has stood shoulder to shoulder with the people of Ukraine throughout this conflict. As one of the largest humanitarian donors, we will continue to make sure those bearing the brunt of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s vile war have the lifesaving aid they need.
“British aid is supporting the most vulnerable in Ukraine, particularly women and children, who are facing increased risk of sexual violence and exploitation.”
Of the £45 million, £15 million will go to the UN’s Ukraine Humanitarian Fund, which distributes food, water, shelter and other necessities, as well as working to prevent sexual violence.
“This generous contribution from the United Kingdom will enable the UN’s Ukraine Humanitarian Fund to scale up the delivery of fast, effective and lifesaving aid to people who are caught up in this unfolding nightmare,” said Martin Griffiths, the UN under secretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief co-ordinator.
Another £15 million will go to children’s agency Unicef to provide food to pregnant women and mental health support for children.
Aid organisations in Moldova and other neighbouring countries will receive £10 million to protect those fleeing the war, while £5 million will go to the International Federation of the Red Cross in Ukraine.
Ms Truss also announced the UK would send more medical supplies, in addition to more than five million items already delivered, including about 380,000 packs of medicine and wound care packs to treat 220,000 wounded.
Britain has already committed £2 million of food supplies to parts of Ukraine encircled by Russian forces.
Seventeen lorries have delivered more than 50,000 kilograms of pasta, 10,000kg of rice, 60,000 tins of corned beef and more than 80,000 litres of water.
About £30 million in humanitarian support is going to Poland to help refugees there and to send supplies into Ukraine.
A team of war crimes experts – including specialists in conflict-related sexual violence – are travelling to Poland from Britain to help the Ukrainians gather evidence of Russian atrocities.
Ms Truss has said British intelligence will support efforts to hold the Russian political leadership to account.
On Tuesday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged to “carry on supplying Ukraine, alongside your other friends, with weapons, funding and humanitarian aid” as he addressed the country’s parliament.
About 16 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance within Ukraine and seven million are internally displaced, the UN said.
Its figures indicate 5.5 million refugees have spilled into neighbouring countries.
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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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