New sanctions from the EU and Switzerland are putting renewed financial pressure on Bashar al Assad, the Syrian president, and other senior government officials.
Switzerland late on Tuesday froze Mr al Assad's assets, extending an earlier freeze that targeted officials accused of orchestrating a violent crackdown on protests.
A total of 23 Syrian officials are now subject to asset freezes in Switzerland.
"If someone represses his own people like that, responds to peaceful demonstrations with force, this can't be left unanswered by the European Union," Guido Westerwelle, the German foreign minister, told Reuters this week after the EU imposed new sanctions on the Syrian leader.
The US also slapped Syria with new sanctions this month, but the UN has yet to add its voice to a growing chorus calling for harsher measures against the regime.
State-controlled Syrian media have decried the actions, saying they ignore reforms proposed to satisfy protesters, including lifting a long-standing state of emergency.
More than 900 people have died in Syria in recent months at the hands of government security forces putting down anti-regime protests primarily in the country's south.
The response in Europe mirrors swift action taken against other regimes in the Middle East after violent responses to uprisings.
Freezes have been imposed by dozens of countries against Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, the former Tunisian president, Hosni Mubarak, the former Egyptian president, and Muammar Qaddafi, the Libyan leader, who is fighting a civil war.
Switzerland has been particularly quick to move against embattled Middle Eastern leaders as it vies to shed a reputation as a haven for the assets of dictators and criminals. Ghanem Nuseibeh,a partner at Cornerstone Global Associates and senior analyst with Political Capital, said the targeting of Mr al Assad was a precursor to more stringent action from the international community. "The freeze of the Assad assets was a necessary step to give confidence to the international community and many in the Arab streets that there are no double standards when it comes to dealing with humanitarian issues," he said, adding that western countries needed to make clear that such actions were motivated by humanitarian concerns, not political ones.
"Asset freezes are usually the first tool to use against a regime, first by targeting key lieutenants," he said. "The fact that [Mr al] Assad himself has been targeted now indicates that we are only one step away from further, more substantial action."
As international pressure grows on Mr al Assad and other targets in the region, interim governments in Tunisia and Egypt are making their own efforts to cleanse their political and financial systems of decades of political corruption and prosecute people responsible for violence.
Egypt's top prosecutor said yesterday that Mr Mubarak would be put on trial in connection with the killing of protesters and could face the death penalty.
afitch@thenational.ae
Analysis
Members of Syria's Alawite minority community face threat in their heartland after one of the deadliest days in country’s recent history. Read more
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The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Bangladesh tour of Pakistan
January 24 – First T20, Lahore
January 25 – Second T20, Lahore
January 27 – Third T20, Lahore
February 7-11 – First Test, Rawalpindi
April 3 – One-off ODI, Karachi
April 5-9 – Second Test, Karachi
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Scoreline
Arsenal 3
Aubameyang (28'), Welbeck (38', 81')
Red cards: El Neny (90' 3)
Southampton 2
Long (17'), Austin (73')
Red cards: Stephens (90' 2)
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- Premier League-standard football pitch
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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.”
The specs: 2019 BMW X4
Price, base / as tested: Dh276,675 / Dh346,800
Engine: 3.0-litre turbocharged in-line six-cylinder
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 354hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 500Nm @ 1,550rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 9.0L / 100km