Bangladesh’s cricket chief has said that next year’s World Twenty20 is threatened by the country’s deadly political violence, warning there may only be weeks to save the tournament.
The 16-team competition – which includes a qualifying first round the UAE have earned entry into – due to take place between March 16 and April 6, should be the biggest sporting event ever staged by Bangladesh.
But the country has been gripped by violent protests in recent weeks, with opposition supporters insisting that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina stand aside ahead of elections due next year. More than 74 people have been killed since late October.
“If this situation prevails, then any big tournament or participation of any big country will be under threat,” Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan told reporters late Monday.
“This must end in January and preferably in December.”
The political violence has affected almost every city in Bangladesh, including the three host venues for the T20 tournament – the capital Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet.
A team of International Cricket Council (ICC) inspectors declared last week that they were “happy” with security arrangements but said they would continue to monitor the situation.
However, the dangers posed to teams was underlined at the weekend when a small bomb exploded outside the West Indies’ Under-19 team’s hotel in the port city of Chittagong, prompting them to cut short their tour.
Bangladesh is also due to host a tour by Sri Lanka in January before then staging the Asia Cup, a 50-over tournament starting in February which also features India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
“The quicker this political situation improves the better because the Sri Lanka tour is in January and then we have the Asia Cup. It needs to be resolved before that,” said Hassan, who is a ruling party lawmaker.
Nizamuddin Chowdhury, the BCB’s chief executive, told reporters that the ICC had asked the board to relay them an update on the situation.
“We will send (it to) them accordingly,” he said.
An ICC spokesman told AFP on Monday that it was “actively monitoring” the situation in Bangladesh, stressing that it gave the highest priority to the safety of all participants in ICC events.
A spokesman for Cricket Australia said the board would seek its own government’s advice on the security situation, but said no decision on whether to go to Bangladesh would be made until much nearer the time.
“We have a constant commitment to prioritise the safety of players and officials. We only ever allow them to travel when we are totally confident that they can travel in safety,” the spokesman said.
“It is standard practice for us to conduct security assessments very close to the tour dates and we won’t be doing that until much nearer to the event itself.”
Australia and the West Indies both refused to play in Sri Lanka during the 1996 50-over World Cup after a bomb went off in Colombo, killing 91 people, shortly before the tournament began.
New Zealand also refused to play in Kenya during the 2003 World Cup, a few months after a deadly bomb attack in Mombasa.
Pakistan has not hosted any international matches since militants attacked the Sri Lankan team during a Test in Lahore in 2009.
Paatal Lok season two
Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy
Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong
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Results
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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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