Four workers were killed when a fire broke out at Egypt's main telecoms hub on Monday night, causing internet and phone service disruptions that were continuing on Tuesday.
State-owned company Telecom Egypt confirmed the deaths of employees inside Cairo's Ramses Central building.
The blaze began in a seventh-floor operations room before spreading to other floors, trapping some employees in the building. At least 39 people were injured, according to civil defence officials. The Ministry of Health said firefighters were among those injured.
Financial services across Cairo and parts of Giza were affected by the internet and phone disruption.
Long queues formed at branches of several banks on Tuesday, as customers tried withdraw cash in person due to disruption to e-banking systems. Many Egyptians took to social media to complain that they could not make payments or carry out other transactions.
Telecommunications Minister Amr Talaat said services were being progressively restored. He said Ramses Central, which manages about 40 per cent of Egypt’s telecom traffic, is not the only centre of its kind, and other hubs across the country have taken on the load to compensate.
All services are expected to be functioning normally by Wednesday morning, Mr Talaat said, adding that some minor issues could persist in rural provinces but were being addressed.
Services including banking, ATM operations and money transfer apps had largely returned to normal on Tuesday after being severely disrupted, the minister added.
Egyptian National Railways, which had announced a disruption to its nationwide ticket booking system on Monday, confirmed on Tuesday that the system was operational again. The Egyptian Stock Exchange, however, halted trading on Tuesday, citing instability following the fire.
Rescue workers said they suspected a short-circuit sparked the blaze but a more thorough investigation was needed to determine the cause.
The fire was brought under near control just before midnight after burning for six hours, officials said. However, smoke was still seen rising from various places in the building on Tuesday morning, prompting fears that the flames could reignite.
Firefighters remained at the site in an effort to keep it cool, officials said.
While many users reported marked improvements in internet and mobile connectivity on Tuesday, many also continued to report disruption, with some services slow or inconsistent.
The National Telecom Regulatory Authority had said technical teams were working to restore full service as quickly as possible and were assessing the effect of the fire on critical infrastructure.
Customers hit by the disruption were expected to be compensated, the authority said.
Media Production City, which hosts the country’s largest TV and radio stations, issued a statement saying that while live TV broadcasts were not affected, communications issues had disrupted co-ordination between programme producers and their sources.
Ramses Central, built in the 1927 under the reign of King Fuad I, has served as a critical node in Egypt’s telecoms network for nearly a century.
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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- Level 1 has a valet service if you choose not to park in the basement level. This level houses all the kitchenware, including covetable brand French Bull, along with a wide array of outdoor furnishings, lamps and lighting solutions, textiles like curtains, towels, cushions and bedding, and plenty of other home accessories.
- Level 2 features curated inspiration zones and solutions for bedrooms, living rooms and dining spaces. This is also where you’d go to customise your sofas and beds, and pick and choose from more than a dozen mattress options.
- Level 3 features The Home’s “man cave” set-up and a display of industrial and rustic furnishings. This level also has a mother’s room, a play area for children with staff to watch over the kids, furniture for nurseries and children’s rooms, and the store’s design studio.
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