Tens of thousands of internet users will need to change their e-mail addresses under plans by Yahoo Maktoob to launch an Arabic-language e-mail service.
The web service has been gradually moving its services to be in line with those of the US web giant Yahoo, which purchased the Arabic portal Maktoob for US$164 million (Dh602.37m) in 2009.
The current @maktoob.com email address will be gradually phased out, with "tens of thousands" of users asked to use an @yahoo.com address ender instead.
New Arabic-language e-mail and messenger products are due to be launched this year, said Ahmed Nassef, the vice president and managing director of Yahoo Middle East.
"Messenger and mail will be launched in 2011 in Arabic," said Mr Nassef. "We're looking to launch some top properties in the next couple of months."
Yahoo Maktoob's Mail and Messenger product, which includes services such as instant messaging and video calls, are currently available in English but not Arabic.
"You don't have an Arabic interface to these products. However, we have millions of users that use these products," said Mr Nassef.
"Over time we'll transfer the existing subscribers to Yahoo mail... It will be a very clear process to all our users," he added.
The Maktoob.com email addresses will not be cancelled immediately.
"Eventually, the previous product will have to cease. The time frame for that has not been put out yet," said Andy Abbar, Yahoo Maktoob's head of product marketing and management for the Middle East.
"It will be a transitional approach - it will not be an on/off switch. We will make sure that no one gets stranded," he added.
Mr Nassef also said Yahoo Maktoob would be investing in more sports content as it looks to boost its online audience in the Arab world.
Yahoo Sports, which was launched in 1997, is the top sports website in the US, and this week it launched ThePostGame, a daily online magazine that is to publish lengthy articles on sport.
Mr Nassef said Yahoo hoped to build its Arabic sports content before something similar to ThePostGame was launched in the Middle East.
"We're continuing to build our Arabic sports property for the Middle East … We'll be investing in the content we're getting and the editorial team that runs our sports properties," he said.
"I don't have a date yet [for the launch of ThePostGame in the Arab world], so it's not something on our road map today, but it's something we'll be looking at."
Yahoo Maktoob says it has 32 million users. The two Yahoo and Maktoob domains rank among the top 10 most-visited websites in Saudi Arabia and Egypt, two of the region's most populous markets, according to the web data company Alexa.com.
In terms of sports content, Yahoo Maktoob faces competition from dedicated Arab sites including the popular kooora.com, which ranks as the 13th most popular site in Saudi Arabia.
bflanagan@thenational.ae
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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