UAE

Emiratis will hold all judiciary positions within five years, ministry announces

Strategy is to hire only nationals and also to encourage women to take up positions.

Suryatapa Bhattacharya

October 23, 2008

The entire judiciary in the country will be nationalised within the next five years, the minister of justice announced yesterday. Dr Hadef Jouan al Dhahiri said that the ministry had adopted a five-year strategy that would help employ only nationals in the judicial posts and would also encourage women to join the field.

Speaking at a press conference, held at the Institute of Training and Judicial Studies in Sharjah, Mr al Dhahiri said that currently more than 50 per cent of posts in various judicial roles were held by Emiratis. In the public prosecution departments across various emirates, 95 per cent of jobs are filled by nationals. He also said that the justice ministry was putting in place certain amendments that "will eventually open up for women the freedom and opportunity to work in that sector" to encourage more working women to join the judiciary, according to a report by WAM, the government news agency.

Meanwhile, some sectors, including the insurance industry, were lagging behind in the hiring of nationals, noted Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri, the minister of economy. "There are still some sectors which witness slow pace of Emiratisation. Though it plays a pivotal role in all economic and business activities, and has managed to attract investments to the tune of Dh23 billion in 2007, the insurance sector still lags behind when it comes to Emiratisation of jobs," he said during a speech read on his behalf at the opening session of a seminar on the Emiratisation of jobs in the insurance sector in Dubai.

Of 6,320 employees in the country's insurance sector, only six per cent are Emiratis. "The insurance companies and relevant authorities must show some effort and commitment in attracting UAE nationals to join the sector," said Mr Mansouri @Email:sbhattacharya@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.”