Rise in Emiratis waiting to have children

Changing social trends have led to Emirati women getting married and having children at a later age.

Eman Amer, 31, from Abu Dhabi, a mother of four who married her first cousin when she was 20, said a number of her Emirati friends have put their education and career ahead of having a family.

Having more choices could mean women were unable to juggle work and family life, she said. "Maybe it is because more women are working now, and they feel guilty maybe that they don't spend more time with their kids," Mrs Amer added.

Career-driven women will wait until they are more settled before having children, she said.

Her four daughters will have arranged marriages when they are about the same age as she was.

"I didn't have a problem and most of the people I know didn't have problems with that," she said.

Shayma Al Suwaidi, 26, also from Abu Dhabi, runs her own business and said education has allowed women a voice, which has led to later marriages and births.

"It depends on the demographics. In some areas, people are still getting married at 16, 17 or 18, and have lots of kids. The more urbanised areas, like the cities, are showing this trend of lower birth rates and higher ages for marriage, but in places like Sir Bani Yas, where women are not educated, it still happens."

Mrs Al Suwaidi got married when she was 22 and is now pregnant with her second child. Most of her friends have yet to marry.

A more relaxed attitude towards arranged marriages is one factor.

"Women are getting more picky about who they marry. They are still very common, but they are not arranged like they used to be," said Mrs Al Suwaidi. "It is arranged and then the woman can choose to go ahead or not, so it is not like it is her parents' decision or anything."

The trend for Emirati women to marry later worries the older generations, who want their daughters to have children right after they wed.

Mrs Al Suwaidi's mother got married at 16 and she has six children. Mrs Amer's mother had 11 children, the first when she was a teenager.

"They want their daughters to be married like they were and have lots of kids. They start getting worried by the age of 25," Mrs Al Suwaidi said.

But marriage is not as important as it used to be, said Zabna Amer, 27, from Abu Dhabi. "Before, women were dependent on men for everything. Now, most work," said the finance worker. "They don't have to depend on men any more."

zalhassani@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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