Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, pictured here on January 25, 2017, met with the US delegation in Jeddah. Faisal Al Nasser / Reuters
Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, pictured here on January 25, 2017, met with the US delegation in Jeddah. Faisal Al Nasser / Reuters

Saudi crown prince holds talks with US officials on Israel-Palestine peace

The American delegation included presidential adviser Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt, the US envoy for negotiating Israel-Palestinian peace

The National staff

August 23, 2017

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met senior US officials, including presidential adviser Jared Kushner, in Jeddah and discussed efforts to bring about peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, the state Saudi Press Agency has reported.

Prince Mohammed and the US delegation also reaffirmed that cutting off all kinds of support for terrorists and extremists was a priority for both countries, Spa reported.

They said they would continue to co-ordinate on efforts in this area, including on the Global Centre for Combating Extremist Ideology in Riyadh, which Saudi Arabia's King Salman and US president Donald Trump opened together during the American leader's visit to the kingdom in May.

Also present at the Tuesday meeting were Jason Greenblatt, Mr Trump's envoy for negotiating Israel-Palestinian peace, US deputy national security adviser Dina Powell, and Saudi Arabia's new ambassador to the US, Prince Khaled bin Salman.

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Read more:

Opinion: Regardless of Kushner's visit, the status quo will prevail in Israel and Palestine

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"During the audience," Spa said, "the two sides confirmed commitment to reinforce bilateral relations and close co-operation, in addition to [enhancing] common interests in realising genuine and lasting peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis."

Mr Kushner, the US president's son-in-law, was charged with helping to broker a deal between Israelis and Palestinians after Mr Trump took office.

The charitable foundation of Mr Kushner's family has donated tens of thousands of dollars to a West Bank settlement, considered illegal by the international community.

The White House announced the US delegation's trip to Saudi Arabia earlier this month, saying it was part of a regional tour that would also include meetings with leaders from the UAE, Qatar, Jordan, Egypt, Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The exact itinerary has not been released, however.

The US delegation would meet regional leaders to discuss a "path to substantive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks", a White House official said at the time.

Read more: US punishes Egypt over crackdown on dissent

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.”

COMPANY PROFILE

Name: Lamsa

Founder: Badr Ward

Launched: 2014

Employees: 60

Based: Abu Dhabi

Sector: EdTech

Funding to date: $15 million

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