Asia

Security posts on Afghan border attacked

Taliban militants attack two Pakistani security posts in a tribal area bordering Afghanistan, leaving 20 dead.

Taliban militants attacked two Pakistani security posts in a tribal area bordering Afghanistan today, sparking fierce clashes in which 20 rebels were killed, officials said. The attacks followed a week of the most intense clashes ever seen in the troubled Bajaur tribal region, and came as al Qa'eda's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, issued a call for jihad in Pakistan. Bajaur is a known haunt of al Qa'eda and Taliban militants hostile to the US-backed governments in Islamabad and Kabul. Mr Zawahiri escaped a major US missile strike in the region in 2006.

"The Taliban launched a big attack on Tor Ghundi fort and Iskandro post. Security forces responded and 20 militants were killed," a paramilitary official said. There was no immediate information about casualties to security forces. Residents said the fighting erupted at 1am today and bodies were scattered across farmland 20 kilometres east of Khar, the main town in Bajaur. Army helicopter gunships and jets pounded militant positions, they said.

Pakistani military officials said yesterday that nine soldiers and 100 militants had been killed in four days of fighting in Bajaur, a mountainous and largely forested region hugging the Afghan frontier. Last week Pakistani forces reoccupied an abandoned check post in Bajaur in an attempt to guard a key militant smuggling route, but were forced to flee again after hundreds of rebels surrounded it.

Separately in Bajaur, militants kidnapped two men and dumped their headless bodies yesterday with a note accusing them of "spying on Taliban activities", residents and officials said. The killings in the village of Charming were the latest in a series targeting alleged spies working for Pakistani forces or for US troops across the border in Afghanistan. Also yesterday, militants shot dead a tribal elder who supported the government in South Waziristan, another restive tribal district, local administration official Muwaz Khan said.

Tribesmen blocked a key road leading out of South Waziristan to protest the killing, residents said. Pakistan has faced mounting international calls to crack down on militants amid a surge in cross-border rebel attacks on international forces in Afghanistan. *AFP

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A State of Passion

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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.”