KUWAIT CITY // Talal Al Sayegh is at the forefront of Kuwaiti government efforts to convince its international partners that donations from private citizens will stop going to extremist militants in Syria.
A technocrat with 20 years of experience at Kuwait’s central bank, Mr Al Sayegh was appointed to head the country’s newly empowered Financial Intelligence Unit in January.
The unit faces its first major test on October 24 when the Financial Action Task Force, an intergovernmental policy group that sets standards for fighting terror funding and money laundering, is expected to update its outlook on Kuwait.
The unit existed in the past, but only began operating in compliance with the task force’s requirements in June, said Mr Al Sayegh.
In its latest statement on Kuwait, the group said “deficiencies remain”, making the upcoming review an important indicator of the country’s efforts to combat terror funding.
Even if the appraisal goes well, the country faces the longer term challenge of prosecuting funders of extremist groups, with Mr Al Sayegh’s efforts stuck between Kuwait’s obligations to the international community and relatively popular, well-connected donors.
“You cannot make a system immune to everything,” he said. “But once you find [suspicious activity] you have to take action.”
After peaceful protests that began in 2011 calling for the end of Bashar Al Assad’s regime in Syria descended into war, Kuwaiti citizens became some of the main sources of funds for both humanitarian aid and arms for rebel groups.
Some of the funding ended up with Jabhat Al Nusra, Al Qaeda’s Syria affiliate, and, later, its more extreme rival ISIL.
Kuwait only criminalised the funding of terror groups last year. The change in law also allowed for the establishment of the Financial Intelligence Unit.
Recently, the United Nations designated several Kuwaitis — including popular cleric Shafi Sultan Mohammed Al Ajmi — as backers of Al Nusra, placing the country under further scrutiny as a source of extremist funding.
“They were sleeping at the wheel for 13 months,” said Aimen Dean of Five Dimensions Consultants, a Dubai-based private research firm focused on the Middle East, describing Kuwait’s efforts to crack down on extremist financiers.
“Only as momentum built before the US-led airstrikes [against ISIL in Iraq and Syria] did things really change. It is important to note that Kuwait became an important conduit for terror financing after Saudi Arabia clamped down hard on such activities. Many financiers in the region moved to Kuwait where legislation is more lax regarding money transfers.”
Mr Al Sayegh said: “The necessity was there, everyone acknowledged this.”
The Financial Intelligence Unit is currently located within the finance ministry, but there are plans to move next year, in a bid to retain its independence.
Annual reports will be submitted to the finance minister, who provides oversight, but the unit will otherwise remain removed from the ministry’s bureaucracy, Mr Al Sayegh said.
Currently, it has about 20 employees and he eventually plans to hire about 80 more.
The unit’s goal is to investigate suspicious transactions by gathering information from banks, customs, the judiciary and the real estate and commercial sectors to decide if they warrant being passed onto a prosecutor.
Information about transactions not sent to the prosecutor are kept in the unit’s database. The transactions are reported by banks, border customs, and exchange houses.
“Any suspicious transaction that’s not within the pattern of the client, the bank’s system should pick it up,” Mr Al Sayegh said.
The unit is not only focused on terror financing. Money laundering is also part of its remit, and cases involving terror suspects don’t necessarily receive special treatment.
Mr Al Sayegh said transactions have been sent to the prosecutor, though the details are classified. “We are now operational,” he said.
Yet, Kuwait’s ability to stop terror funding is complicated by domestic challenges, analysts say.
The country has experienced several years of political turmoil with protests, opposition boycotts, and cabinet resignations stemming from discontent with the government.
Clamping down on the financiers, even if the effort is successful, risks further political unrest and the details that might emerge could have their own repercussions.
Kuwaiti officials may hesitate to put these financiers “on trial because the size of the finance to extremist groups is so large — estimated at around US$210 million [Dh770.7m] — that it would be an embarrassment to Kuwait and its allies,” said Mr Dean.
“In our estimation, JAN receive most of that funding and the Islamic State received about a quarter of it”, he said, using an alternative acronym and name for Al Nusra and ISIL.
Kuwait is among the biggest donors when it comes to legally sanctioned humanitarian aid for Syrians, with the government in January pledging US$500 million in assistance.
When it comes to terror financing, some of the individuals making donations might not even know where their money is going, said Shamlan Al Essa, a Kuwaiti political analyst.
Only small numbers of Kuwaitis “here and there”, he said, sympathise with ISIL.
“People are naive. Mention a charity and helping the poor. They give money like crazy. They are rich. Who knows where the money goes?”
Those who arrange for funds to be sent to extremist groups have a variety of goals and do not see Al Nusra and ISIL as presenting the same threat that the government and its allies do.
A belief that they are combating Shiite Iran’s influence in the region appears to be a key motivation for the hardline Sunni financiers.
Tehran is an important ally of the Syrian regime and the Iraqi government and has offered vital support to both as they combat insurgent forces.
“Sunni Islamists see it as their right to fund what they see as an anti-Iranian agenda in Syria, even if it means sleeping with the devil to frustrate Iran’s plans in the region,” Mr Dean said.
These fund-raisers have influence within structures such as the judiciary, making putting them on trial difficult, said Mr Al Essa.
“Tomorrow he will be innocent,” he said, explaining how fund-raisers have sympathisers or tribal connections in places of power, making legal action against them unlikely.
The Kuwaiti government is concerned about domestic opposition if they clamp down on the fund-raisers, said Lori Plotkin Boghardt, an expert on Gulf politics at The Washington Institute.
“This is primarily a political issue. That said there are plenty of technical barriers to clamping down on terrorism financing.”
At the Financial Intelligence Unit, Mr Al Sayegh was deciding on a computer programme to help sift through the data on transactions.
“This is the new trend. You go IT. You’ll have the best tools in hand in order to avoid human intervention in this.”
Another goal: to more quickly exchange information with other financial intelligence units in the region.
Now, it can take days or even weeks to get information about transactions.
Impatient, but polite, he appeared focused on implementation, not politics.
“Once you claim that someone is doing something wrong you have to give some justification or proof … the system works here, if you have sufficient information we will act on it. We don’t depend just on statements.”
jvela@thenational.ae
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Squid Game season two
Director: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Stars: Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon and Lee Byung-hun
Rating: 4.5/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
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Saturday's schedule at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
GP3 race, 12:30pm
Formula 1 final practice, 2pm
Formula 1 qualifying, 5pm
Formula 2 race, 6:40pm
Performance: Sam Smith
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Museum of the Future in numbers
- 78 metres is the height of the museum
- 30,000 square metres is its total area
- 17,000 square metres is the length of the stainless steel facade
- 14 kilometres is the length of LED lights used on the facade
- 1,024 individual pieces make up the exterior
- 7 floors in all, with one for administrative offices
- 2,400 diagonally intersecting steel members frame the torus shape
- 100 species of trees and plants dot the gardens
- Dh145 is the price of a ticket
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
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Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
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.”
SQUADS
Bangladesh (from): Shadman Islam, Mominul Haque, Soumya Sarkar, Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Mahmudullah Riyad, Mohammad Mithun, Mushfiqur Rahim, Liton Das, Taijul Islam, Mosaddek Hossain, Nayeem Hasan, Mehedi Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Ebadat Hossain, Abu Jayed
Afghanistan (from): Rashid Khan (capt), Ihsanullah Janat, Javid Ahmadi, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Asghar Afghan, Ikram Alikhil, Mohammad Nabi, Qais Ahmad, Sayed Ahmad Shirzad, Yamin Ahmadzai, Zahir Khan Pakteen, Afsar Zazai, Shapoor Zadran
Essentials
The flights
Emirates, Etihad and Malaysia Airlines all fly direct from the UAE to Kuala Lumpur and on to Penang from about Dh2,300 return, including taxes.
Where to stay
In Kuala Lumpur, Element is a recently opened, futuristic hotel high up in a Norman Foster-designed skyscraper. Rooms cost from Dh400 per night, including taxes. Hotel Stripes, also in KL, is a great value design hotel, with an infinity rooftop pool. Rooms cost from Dh310, including taxes.
In Penang, Ren i Tang is a boutique b&b in what was once an ancient Chinese Medicine Hall in the centre of Little India. Rooms cost from Dh220, including taxes.
23 Love Lane in Penang is a luxury boutique heritage hotel in a converted mansion, with private tropical gardens. Rooms cost from Dh400, including taxes.
In Langkawi, Temple Tree is a unique architectural villa hotel consisting of antique houses from all across Malaysia. Rooms cost from Dh350, including taxes.
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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FIXTURES (all times UAE)
Sunday
Brescia v Lazio (3.30pm)
SPAL v Verona (6pm)
Genoa v Sassuolo (9pm)
AS Roma v Torino (11.45pm)
Monday
Bologna v Fiorentina (3.30pm)
AC Milan v Sampdoria (6pm)
Juventus v Cagliari (6pm)
Atalanta v Parma (6pm)
Lecce v Udinese (9pm)
Napoli v Inter Milan (11.45pm)
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Dr Afridi's warning signs of digital addiction
Spending an excessive amount of time on the phone.
Neglecting personal, social, or academic responsibilities.
Losing interest in other activities or hobbies that were once enjoyed.
Having withdrawal symptoms like feeling anxious, restless, or upset when the technology is not available.
Experiencing sleep disturbances or changes in sleep patterns.
What are the guidelines?
Under 18 months: Avoid screen time altogether, except for video chatting with family.
Aged 18-24 months: If screens are introduced, it should be high-quality content watched with a caregiver to help the child understand what they are seeing.
Aged 2-5 years: Limit to one-hour per day of high-quality programming, with co-viewing whenever possible.
Aged 6-12 years: Set consistent limits on screen time to ensure it does not interfere with sleep, physical activity, or social interactions.
Teenagers: Encourage a balanced approach – screens should not replace sleep, exercise, or face-to-face socialisation.
Source: American Paediatric Association
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Titan Sports Academy:
Programmes: Judo, wrestling, kick-boxing, muay thai, taekwondo and various summer camps
Location: Inside Abu Dhabi City Golf Club, Al Mushrif, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Telephone: 971 50 220 0326
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
SPECS
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