ABU DHABI // Emirati women have expressed their fears over travelling to London after the horrific hammer attack on three sisters.
One woman, who wished to be known only as N H, 24, visits the British capital almost every year, but said she would stay away for now.
“I was comfortable in London, very familiar with it. [But] after what has happened, it is scary, especially that my trips used to include my mother and my sisters only. This will change my idea on the security of any state,” she said.
Khuloud Al Najjar, 36, and her sisters Ohoud, 34, and Fatima, 31, were attacked in their room on the seventh floor of the Cumberland Hotel in central London on April 6 by a man wielding a hammer.
Khuloud suffered life-threatening injuries. She has lost her left eye and has only 5 per cent of her brain function.
The other two sisters have several skull fractures and broken bones.
N H said many people from the Arabian Gulf choose the Cumberland for its “perfect strategic location”. The hotel is at one end of Oxford Street and the north-east corner of Hyde Park.
But she believes people might reappraise its popularity. She also questioned the hotel’s security, recalling how her luggage was stolen from the hotel’s entrance in 2008.
“After the incident I analysed what happened. I remember the elevators did not have the card holder system that most hotels have. Having that prevents people who are not staying at the hotel from entering. The elevators were not safe and anyone could have gone through them,” she said.
She advised people from the Arabian Gulf, who “usually carry lots of cash” not to “show off”.
“People going to London have to keep in mind there are many diverse cultures there and not everyone is well off and people of the Gulf tend to dress up and that keeps eyes on them,” she said.
Emirati H S, who was on holiday in Germany at the time of the incident, said women should not travel alone. “It is unacceptable,” she said.
Another member of her family, F R, said the attack created a sense of insecurity, which would make her more cautious.
However, others said the incident would not prevent them from going to London.
Fatema Al Fardan, 23, visits the UK capital every year and considers it her “home away from home”.
“My father brings us to London very often because he lived and studied there for four years. I’ve been going to London since I was brought to this world and I always feel safe there,” she said.
She said the UK “will always be our favourite country after the UAE”. Attacks such as this could occur in any country, she added, and it should not remove London from the tourism list.
Four people have been in court in relation to the attack, while a fifth has been bailed pending further inquiries.
aalkhoori@thenational.ae
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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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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
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