RIYADH // Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and anti-terror chief sought on Tuesday to reassure Saudis of the country’s security after suicide attacks targeting Medina, the US consulate in Jeddah and the city of Qatif.
At least four people were killed in the attacks on Monday. No group has claimed responsibility but ISIL has carried out a number of similar bombings in the kingdom in the past year, targeting Shiites and Saudi security forces.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz, who is also the Saudi interior minister, visited two security officers and a citizen wounded in the bombing in Jeddah.
“The security of the homeland is good, it is at its highest levels and thanks be to God it gets stronger every day,” the Spa state news agency quoted Prince Mohammed as saying during the visit.
The attacks have rattled Saudis who are preparing to celebrate Eid Al Fitr from Wednesday.
Militant attacks on Medina, home to the Prophet’s Mosque and the second-holiest site in Islam, are unprecedented. The Al Saud ruling family considers itself the protectors of Islam’s holiest sites Medina and Mecca.
Prince Mohammed has been credited for successfully ending a bombing campaign by Al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia between 2003-2006.
“I know that terrorist operations are not a simple thing, and the minor impacts that you feel now will go away, God willing,” Prince Mohammed said. “I had been through this in the past and feel what you feel,” he added, referring to a suicide bombing he had survived in his office in 2009.
Saudi security officials say the group’s supporters inside the kingdom mainly act independently, depending on ISIL based in Iraq and Syria for only limited logistical help and advice, making them harder to detect, but also less capable of mounting attacks on well-protected targets.
The Saudi interior ministry on Tuesday identified the suicide bomber who struck near the US consulate in Jeddah as a Pakistani resident who arrived in the country 12 years ago to work as a driver.
A ministry statement identified the man as 34-year-old Abdullah Qalzar Khan. It said he lived in Jeddah with “his wife and her parents”.
There are around 9 million foreigners living in Saudi Arabia, which has a total population of 30 million. Among all foreigners living in the kingdom, Pakistanis represent one of the largest groups.
The Saudi ministry said the attacker set off the bomb in a car park after security officers raised suspicions about him.
The suicide bombing in Medina outside the mosque grounds where the Prophet Mohammed is buried in killed four Saudi security guards and wounded five. Millions of Muslims from around the world visit the mosque every year as part of their pilgrimage to Mecca.
Several cars caught fire and thick plumes of black smoke were seen rising from the site of the explosion as thousands of worshippers crowded the streets around the mosque.
Worshippers expressed shock that such a prominent holy site could be targeted.
“That’s not an act that represents Islam,” said Altayeb Osama, a 25-year old Sudanese visitor to Medina and an Abu Dhabi resident who heard two large booms about a minute apart as he was heading towards the mosque for sunset prayers. “People never imagined that this could happen here.”
The Prophet Mohammed’s mosque was packed on Monday evening with worshippers during the final days of Ramadan. Saudi media said the attacker was intending to strike the mosque when it was crowded with thousands of worshippers gathered for the sunset prayer.
* Associated Press and Reuters
An earlier version of this story incorrectly said Saudi Arabia had identified Abdullah Qalzar Khan as being the bomber behind the attack in Medina, rather than Jeddah.
Leap of Faith
Michael J Mazarr
Public Affairs
Dh67
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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