I have a full-time, live-in maid and I arranged for her to be transferred to my sponsorship some three months ago. While my wife and I initially gave her the benefit of the doubt, we are not happy with her work, despite repeatedly asking her to do things the way we want. She only works five days a week and has plenty of time off, yet still complains there is too much to do, despite there being only the two of us, who work full-time, and our daughter, aged 14. As we did not employ her via an agency, we have to deal with the matter ourselves and do not know what we have to do to terminate her employment. Can you advise? - RK Abu Dhabi
As she is effectively an employee, you may cancel her contract. Because her contract states a six-month probationary period, you can, therefore, terminate her employment immediately. You are responsible for the formal cancellation of her visa and will need to visit the Department of Naturalisation and Residency and ask for a visa cancellation form. You will have to produce a copy of the maid's original passport, as well as evidence of a one-way ticket for her to fly back to her home country, for which you must pay. On the day of departure, you should go to the airport with her, and have her passport and labour card, your passport and visa cancellation form. She then needs to check in and obtain a boarding pass. With all of these documents, you both have go to the airport immigration counter. The authorities at the counter will check that all paperwork is in order before processing the cancellation. This can take some time and the counter can get busy, so make sure you have everything you need and leave plenty of time for the paperwork to be dealt with.
I had a du telephone number, which was set up on a prepaid basis. I had it for more than a year. On October 6, I went to the du office in Al Tawar in Dubai and changed my du number from prepaid to postpaid. I was told that my BBM, internet and other services would alter immediately. I paid the full amount for these services in advance. On October 7, I received a message saying: "Thanks for subscription." As nothing happened for a couple of days, I called the helpline and was told they had taken note of my complaint. On Saturday, October 11, I wrote a letter to du management and copied it to customer services, but nothing has happened. Today is October 13 and I still cannot access these services. Instead, I applied for the same package from Etisalat, which they were able to provide me with in two days. Now I don't need the service from du and want to convert back to a prepaid service. But it is asking me to pay for the service to be cancelled, which I never received and never used. Despite having no service, they are telling me I have to pay Dh300 now and also another Dh130, so a total of Dh430 for nothing. I am very disappointed with du as none of this is my fault. - SA Dubai
I referred the problem to my contacts at du and within two days, the matter had been resolved. SA was provided with the full service that he had applied for. A spokesperson from du said: "In response to SA's letter, we have explained the situation to him and have come to an amicable resolution. His BlackBerry Social Package is now active. We regret the inconvenience caused."
I got a job offer letter and a contract signed from a company in Dubai. I accepted their offer (in the offer was included my flight to Dubai) and they applied for my working visa (this is what they told me). However, I never got my visa and they kept me waiting for more than three weeks. After this, they closed the company. My question: is there something that I can do against the company or the people involved in my hiring due to the fact that I am sure they knew before what was going on and they did not inform me? I lost more than one month doing nothing while waiting for them. - VS Italy
This is an unfortunate situation and it is unfair behaviour by the company. It is certainly unusual to offer someone a job, present them with a contract and then close the company. There could be several reasons for this, although I would have thought VS was owed a proper explanation. That said, she never started work with the company, did not have a visa and did not make it to Dubai, so I don't believe there is any action she can take, especially as it is no longer trading. There is no law that I know of relevant to this situation and no mention is made of it in the UAE Labour Law. While a lawyer could be engaged, the question is who would be sued if the company no longer exists? It's unlikely a case against the directors would get very far and the legal fees would far outweigh any compensation that might possibly be paid. I doubt you would win and it would be a waste of money.
Keren Bobker is an independent financial adviser with Holborn Assets in Dubai. Contact her at keren@holbornassets.com
onyourside@thenational.ae
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In numbers
Number of Chinese tourists coming to UAE in 2017 was... 1.3m
Alibaba’s new ‘Tech Town’ in Dubai is worth... $600m
China’s investment in the MIddle East in 2016 was... $29.5bn
The world’s most valuable start-up in 2018, TikTok, is valued at... $75bn
Boost to the UAE economy of 5G connectivity will be... $269bn
The specs
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 502hp at 7,600rpm
Torque: 637Nm at 5,150rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto
Price: from Dh317,671
On sale: now
A State of Passion
Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi
Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Rating: 4/5
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.”
Globalization and its Discontents Revisited
Joseph E. Stiglitz
W. W. Norton & Company
