ABU DHABI // All GCC countries are now officially on the Philippine government's list of "safe" destinations for Filipino workers.
The UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia are included in a new list of 32 compliant countries released by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) on Thursday.
This is in addition to 155 countries, including Oman, that have already been approved in three previous lists.
"The POEA Governing Board resolves to include in the list of compliant countries, including partially-compliant, without prejudice to negotiations for the protection of the rights of household service workers and/or other categories of workers," the POEA board said yesterday.
Grace Princesa, the Philippine ambassador to the UAE, said she was still awaiting official word from Manila officials. She looked forward to further discussions on the issue, she said.
"The Philippines' relations with these Gulf countries goes beyond labour," said Lito Soriano, head of LBS Recruitment Solutions in Manila, who said last month that he was sure the UAE would be certified as fully compliant.
"We also have strong trade and diplomatic ties with them so we welcome this development."
The country's Migrant and Overseas Filipino Workers Act was amended in 2010 to allow Filipinos to work in a country only if it has social and labour laws that protect their rights, has ratified declarations on the protection of migrant workers, and has bilateral agreements with the Philippines on the protection of workers' rights.
The Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila must certify which countries have enough protection for overseas workers. This must be approved by the POEA.
The Philippines, Mr Soriano said, should now focus on implementing the US$400 minimum wage for Filipino household workers worldwide.
Nhel Morona, spokesman for the UAE branch of Migrante, the organisation for Filipino workers overseas, agreed.
Since December 2006, the Philippine government has required its citizens to be paid at least US$400 (Dh1,470) a month for domestic work. But that is often flouted.
"The Philippines does not have the political will to implement it," he said. "Domestic workers continue to receive less than US$400."
A domestic worker in Ajman told Mr Morona yesterday that she and several other Filipinas were being paid Dh750 for domestic work.
Migrante-UAE is investigating further allegations, including various forms of mistreatment.
rruiz@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.”