President Joe Biden has nominated US Army Lt Gen Erik Kurilla to lead Central Command (Centcom) and oversee US military operations in the Middle East.
The nomination for Lt Gen Kurilla to become a full, four-star general was sent to the Senate on Wednesday, congressional records show.
US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin officially announced the nomination on Friday in a press release.
If confirmed by the Senate, Lt Gen Kurilla would succeed Gen Frank McKenzie, who has led Centcom — one of the 11 unified combatant commands of the Department of Defence — since 2019 and whose term expires on April 1.
Gen McKenzie was also given the task of overseeing the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Lt Gen Kurilla has been the commanding general of the XVIII Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg since 2019. He previously served as chief of staff at Centcom and has a combat record in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
While in Iraq in 2014 and 2015, Lt Gen Kurilla was a Stryker battalion commander with the 25th Infantry Division and “was shot three times but continued to fire back at insurgents while directing his troops”, The Military Times reported.
He is familiar with counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism issues in the region, and served between 2015 and 2016 as deputy director for special operations and counterterrorism at the Joint Staff at the Pentagon.
Bilal Saab, senior fellow and founding director of the Defence and Security Programme at the Middle East Institute, described Lt Gen Kurilla as highly respected in his field.
“From the people who have worked closely with him, the consensus is that this is a very [James] Mattis-like individual — factual, succinct, methodical, thorough and driven. He’s well liked and respected by his colleagues,” Mr Saab, a former defence official himself, told The National.
Former Pentagon chief Mr Mattis is known for his direct approach and commitment to US goals in the Middle East. He resigned in 2018 after objecting to former president Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from Syria and Afghanistan.
Mr Saab also highlighted Lt Gen Kurilla’s record in military targeting and trying to avoid civilian casualties.
“He is a targeting guru, which is important for reducing civilian casualties, especially given the challenges we’ve faced in this area,” he said.
Gen McKenzie in September was forced to backtrack after media outlets showed a strike in Kabul that supposedly hit extremists but actually killed 10 civilians.
Asked if the nomination would impact the Biden administration’s policy of switching focus to China and Russia from the Middle East, Mr Saab said those decisions do not traditionally depend on the Centcom chief.
“No Centcom commander sets policy; they do set the tone and [Lt] Gen Kurilla will do just that, given his personality.”
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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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Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
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