Palestinian billionaire Sabih Al Masri, the chairman of Jordan's largest lender Arab Bank, was reportedly detained after heading to the Saudi capital last week to chair meetings of companies he owns.
Reports in the Jordan press suggested he returned to Amman on Saturday morning but these could not be independently confirmed.
Mr Al Masri who is a Saudi citizen was being questioned because of information he had pertaining to an ongoing investigation in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi source was not at liberty to disclose any details, according to Rai Al Youm newspaper.
According to Mohammed Daoudia, chairman of Jordan's Ad Dustour daily and a former minister, Mr Al Masri was back in Jordan. The Jordanian authorities have not yet confirmed his return to the country.
Mr Al Masri had been warned not to travel to Saudi Arabia after mass arrests last month of Saudi princes, officials and businessmen in an anti-corruption crackdown, according to confidants quoted by Reuters.
"He has been answering questions about his business and partners," said a source familiar with the matter who did not elaborate nor confirm he was held. Another family source said he was detained.
Mr Al Masri had cancelled a dinner on Tuesday that he had invited friends and leading businessmen to attend on his return.
Local media reports that he was detained since Thursday sent shockwaves across Jordan where Mr Al Masri's multi-billion dollar investments are a cornerstone of the economy and employ thousands.
He was elected chairman of Arab Bank in 2012 after the resignation of Abdel Hamid Shoman, whose family had founded the bank in Jerusalem in 1930.
He is also the leading investor in the Palestinian territories with a large stake in Paltel, a public shareholding company, which is the largest private sector firm in the West Bank.
Mr Al Masri's family ranks among the wealthiest of Palestinian families, with majority holdings in real estate, hotels and telecommunications firms set up in the territories after a self-rule agreement with Israel in 1993.
He originally comes from a prominent merchant family from Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. He amassed a fortune from a catering business set up with Saudi partners to supply troops during the US-led military operation to retake Kuwait from Iraq in the 1991 Gulf War.
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'Worse than a prison sentence'
Marie Byrne, a counsellor who volunteers at the UAE government's mental health crisis helpline, said the ordeal the crew had been through would take time to overcome.
“It was worse than a prison sentence, where at least someone can deal with a set amount of time incarcerated," she said.
“They were living in perpetual mystery as to how their futures would pan out, and what that would be.
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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.”