ABU DHABI // Nurseries will be given new duties to protect children in their care under amendments to be considered by the Federal National Council.
The amendment will be proposed by the FNC committee reviewing Wadeema's Law, the new child protection law named after an eight-year-old Emirati girl who was starved and tortured to death by her father and his girlfriend.
Neither the law governing nurseries, nor the initial draft of Wadeema's Law, made specific provision to give the country's 300 licensed nurseries and their staff responsibility for preventing and reporting abuse.
"We wanted to include [nurseries] in the law so that they do not think later they are out of it," said Sultan Al Sammahi (Fujairah), one of the seven members of the Health, Labour, and Social Affairs committee, which is currently studying Wadeema's Law.
Their proposed amendment, Mr Al Sammahi noted, is the most significant they have so far proposed to the law.
After two weeks of discussions, the committee, with the help of legal advisers, has reviewed 45 of the law's 72 articles.
"We just made clarifications and added to the definitions, we introduced new ones to strengthen it," said Mr Al Sammahi. "So the law is clear to society."
He expects the remaining clauses to take a further week, after which members will meet child protection agencies and finally with Ministry of Social Affairs officials to ensure they are on board with the changes.
After that the bill will be debated by the full FNC in the presence of the Minister, Mariam Al Roumi.
The law, which Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, ordered to be expedited last year following Wadeema's death, is intended to protect children from all kinds of abuse and neglect.
It will introducing child protection specialists with the power to take children from their homes if they have been harmed or are in imminent danger.
Sheikha Al Erri (UAQ) said the articles giving these specialists the power to intervene when needed would not go against societal norms nor would it interfere with peoples' lives.
"The bill does not clash with sharia, social norms, or international agreements," she said. "Plus, international agreements do not govern us, what governs us is our constitution."
She said the specialists would work mostly with adoptive families. "We must ensure they are good with the children," she said.
Salem Al Ameri (Abu Dhabi), chairman of committee, said the law will be ready to go to the full FNC before its four-month recess starts in mid-June.
osalem@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.”