Biden moves Good Friday Agreement trip forward as he marks US's role on 25th anniversary

US President Joe Biden has moved forward his visit to Ireland to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.

Mr Biden, who will visit either side of the border on his five-day trip, is expected touch down on April 11, one week earlier than originally planned.

The President, who has ancestral links to Ireland, has frequently stressed the importance of the Good Friday Agreement, the US-brokered accords that helped bring about peace on the island after decades of cross-community violence.

Former world leaders will meet at Queen's University in Belfast to celebrate the accords and the work of former US senator John Mitchell, who helped bridge the divide between unionist and nationalist politicians during the historic talks.

Mr Biden is expected to meet former and current high-profile politicians, including Bill and Hillary Clinton, ex-UK prime minister Tony Blair and former taoiseach Bertie Ahern, all of whom played a vital role in the deal in 1998.

The visit, which comes after an invitation by UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, will also be used to bolster transatlantic trade between the US, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

It will be the first US presidential visit to Ireland since Donald Trump's in 2019.

The change of date that means that a proposed meeting with King Charles may not go ahead, although Buckingham Palace and the White House have yet to comment publicly on the matter.

The king is then expected in Ireland some weeks after Mr Biden, echoing the state visits by Barack Obama and Queen Elizabeth II in 2011.

President Joe Biden (L) and Ireland's Taoiseach Leo Varadkar during the annual St Patrick's Day meeting at the White House. AP

The US President and Irish leader Leo Varadkar will have a meeting in Dublin where they will reaffirm their support for the agreement, which they have previously said has been threatened by Britain's decision to leave the EU.

Mr Biden is then expected to conclude his visit with a three or four-day holiday in the west of Ireland, where he has family links. The trip is expected to be the longest of his presidency so far.

Arrangements for the visit have been complicated by the decision to raise Northern Ireland's security level to severe after attacks against police officers by dissident republicans in recent months.

The move, which was based on MI5 intelligence, signifies an attack is considered highly likely.

In March last year it was reduced from severe to substantial for the first time since it was first published in 2010.

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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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