Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, May 6, 2020. the new Ambulatory Healthcare Services, a SEHA Health System Facility, National Screening Project in Mussafah Industrial Area in Abu Dhabi. -- A testing center staffer gives the thumbs up sign. Victor Besa / The National Section: NA Reporter: Nick Webster
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, May 6, 2020. the new Ambulatory Healthcare Services, a SEHA Health System Facility, National Screening Project in Mussafah Industrial Area in Abu Dhabi. -- A testing cShow more

Why an increase in coronavirus cases shouldn't cause alarm



With regard to the report Coronavirus: UAE records 781 new cases and 13 deaths (May 10): proportion of recoveries is increasing to the number of new cases. So this is going in the right direction.

Cheryl Murray, Abu Dhabi 

As a healthcare worker with some common sense, I can say, stay home. Stop mingling in the malls. Keep the kids at home. These steps will go a long way to prevent the spread. This is not going to magically disappear in a puff of sanitiser. It's going to get worse before it starts getting better.

Anne Poulton Van Binsbergen-Hope, Cape Town, Western Cape

When I search for the total number of tests, it puts me at ease. I read the authorities are currently testing 300,000 labour workers in a specific area in Abu Dhabi in a matter of days, so this is positive to find the cases. There is bound to be a rise as they test more people, isolate and treat. The government is doing a great job in testing. The recoveries are increasing, too. I also read the total number of tests as of 25 April hit over one million. And each day since they have carried out many more tests. This is amazing.

Helen Ranson, Abu Dhabi 

Safety checks notwithstanding, the dilemma of airlines

With reference to your editorial 'Air travel must be informed by ground reality' (May 11): with Covid-19 cases still rising all over the world, it is not plausible to lift air travel restrictions, even with proper safety measures in place. However, airlines cannot remain inactive for so long. Neither can they afford to fly if they were to respect social distancing norms. It is important that passengers continue to be tested for Covid-19 before boarding and face masks be made mandatory during flights. We may not like it but airlines will have no choice but to increase the price of tickets on account of the expense of taking precautions against Covid-19. Health and safety remains critical during this time. 

Ramachandran Nair, Muscat, Oman

Parents' negotiating the task of monitoring kids learning at home

Regarding the article by Patrick Ryan and Anam Rizvi Coronavirus: How would UAE parents and employers manage e-learning until 2021? (May 10): it will be good to take into consideration the younger kids, for whom e-learning is impossible without the involvement of parents, who will need to balance office work. So who will follow up on the kids for e-learning?

Nathalie Ravier, Dubai 

There are no easy solutions for this. There are pros and cons for all scenarios and the government, rightly so, is preparing for all scenarios. It is the right thing to do. September is still months away. Let's all do the best we can today for a safer tomorrow. Stay positive.

Nisha Subramanian, Dubai 

Follow The National's Opinion section on Twitter

Farasan Boat: 128km Away from Anchorage

Director: Mowaffaq Alobaid 

Stars: Abdulaziz Almadhi, Mohammed Al Akkasi, Ali Al Suhaibani

Rating: 4/5

The Sand Castle

Director: Matty Brown

Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea

Rating: 2.5/5

Profile box

Company name: baraka
Started: July 2020
Founders: Feras Jalbout and Kunal Taneja
Based: Dubai and Bahrain
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: $150,000
Current staff: 12
Stage: Pre-seed capital raising of $1 million
Investors: Class 5 Global, FJ Labs, IMO Ventures, The Community Fund, VentureSouq, Fox Ventures, Dr Abdulla Elyas (private investment)

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
Inside%20Out%202
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%C2%A0%3C%2Fstrong%3EKelsey%20Mann%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%C2%A0Amy%20Poehler%2C%20Maya%20Hawke%2C%20Ayo%20Edebiri%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E4.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A

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.”