Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and the Dubai Future Foundation (DFF) signed an agreement to support blockchain and Artificial Intelligence-driven start-ups as the emirate seeks to attract advanced technology companies.
The agreement will see the two entities partner on a combined technology acceleration programme that will place start-ups on an "aggressive growth trajectory", the DIFC said in a statement on Saturday.
"By working closely with DIFC, we seek to accelerate business opportunities for the region, attract start-ups and talents, employ innovation and technology to further enhance and generate a robust financial sector and provide the right tools and skills sets to enable a future-ready generation," Khalfan Belhoul, chief executive of Dubai Future Foundation, said.
Financial services is the third-biggest sector contributing to Dubai's gross domestic product (GDP). The emirate, a financial hub in the Middle East, has particularly focused on attracting and developing financial technology (FinTech) businesses.
Overall, the number of firms operating in DIFC rose 25 per cent in the first half of 2020 as the financial free zone looks to triple its size by 2024.
DIFC attracted 310 new companies in the first half of 2020, bringing the total number of companies based in the free zone to 2,584. The DIFC is now home to more than 200 FinTech companies.
"Our eyes are firmly on the future. We are committed to driving the growth in the finance sector by embracing innovation, technology and training," Arif Amiri, chief executive of the DIFC Authority, said. "Investing in human capital initiatives with the Dubai Future Foundation is incredibly important."
The new agreement will see the DFF promote the DIFC Innovation License to its partners and programme participants.
The agreement also outlines plans to introduce technical training programmes at the DIFC Academy. This includes coding courses such as Full-Stack Web Development and App Development. These will support the DFF's One Million Arab Coders initiative, which was launched in 2017.
DIFC and DFF will also collaborate on research and development programmes with major research and technical institutes.
DFF said DIFC would also be an important part of the Dubai Future District, an area connecting the financial free zone, Emirates Towers and the Dubai World Trade Centre announced alongside a Dh1 billion Future Economy fund in January.
Key findings
- Over a period of seven years, a team of scientists analysed dietary data from 50,000 North American adults.
- Eating one or two meals a day was associated with a relative decrease in BMI, compared with three meals. Snacks count as a meal. Likewise, participants who ate more than three meals a day experienced an increase in BMI: the more meals a day, the greater the increase.
- People who ate breakfast experienced a relative decrease in their BMI compared with “breakfast-skippers”.
- Those who turned the eating day on its head to make breakfast the biggest meal of the day, did even better.
- But scrapping dinner altogether gave the best results. The study found that the BMI of subjects who had a long overnight fast (of 18 hours or more) decreased when compared even with those who had a medium overnight fast, of between 12 and 17 hours.
Western Region Asia Cup Qualifier
Results
UAE beat Saudi Arabia by 12 runs
Kuwait beat Iran by eight wickets
Oman beat Maldives by 10 wickets
Bahrain beat Qatar by six wickets
Semi-finals
UAE v Qatar
Bahrain v Kuwait
SPECS
Saudi National Day
Bookshops: A Reader's History by Jorge Carrión (translated from the Spanish by Peter Bush),
Biblioasis
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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UAE |
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Norway |
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Canada |
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Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
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Install an air filter in your home.
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Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
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The flights Etihad (www.etihad.com) and Spice Jet (www.spicejet.com) fly direct from Abu Dhabi and Dubai to Pune respectively from Dh1,000 return including taxes. Pune airport is 90 minutes away by road.
The hotels A stay at Atmantan Wellness Resort (www.atmantan.com) costs from Rs24,000 (Dh1,235) per night, including taxes, consultations, meals and a treatment package.
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2) Alisson, Roma to Liverpool (£67m)
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4) Gianluigi Buffon, Parma to Juventus (£33m)
5) Angelo Peruzzi, Inter Milan to Lazio (£15.7m
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.”
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BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Friday (All UAE kick-off times)
Borussia Dortmund v Eintracht Frankfurt (11.30pm)
Saturday
Union Berlin v Bayer Leverkusen (6.30pm)
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RB Leipzig v Werder Bremen (6.30pm)
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Sunday
Cologne v Bayern Munich (6.30pm)
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MATCH INFO
Real Madrid 2 (Benzema 13', Kroos 28')
Barcelona 1 (Mingueza 60')
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ICC Awards for 2021
MEN
Cricketer of the Year – Shaheen Afridi (Pakistan)
T20 Cricketer of the Year – Mohammad Rizwan (Pakistan)
ODI Cricketer of the Year – Babar Azam (Pakistan)
Test Cricketer of the Year – Joe Root (England)
WOMEN
Cricketer of the Year – Smriti Mandhana (India)
ODI Cricketer of the Year – Lizelle Lee (South Africa)
T20 Cricketer of the Year – Tammy Beaumont (England)
