Google CEO Sundar Pichai testifies before a House Judiciary Committee hearing in Washington. EPA 
Google CEO Sundar Pichai testifies before a House Judiciary Committee hearing in Washington. EPA 

Google CEO denies claim it could swing US elections



Sundar Pichai, Google's CEO, was accused by a congressman on Tuesday of being able to swing American elections through manipulation of web searches, a claim he denied during testimony on Capitol Hill where he said the company operated free of political bias.
Mr Pichai, making his first appearance in front of Congress members, defended the Silicon Valley tech giant's data use, saying the 2016 presidential election had exposed mistakes over two advertising accounts linked to Russia which the company has since sought to rectify.
But appearing in front of the House Judiciary Committee he came under pressure from Texas Republican Lamar Smith, who accused Google of manipulating search results for political reasons.
"Google could well elect the next president with dire consequences for our democracy," Mr Smith said, citing a study that said 96 per cent of searches using the word "Trump" would take a user to websites he described as "liberal media".
Mr Pichai, who has worked at Google for 15 years, the last three as CEO, said the company had taken $4,700 from the "two main accounts to do with Russia", describing it as "limited activity".
"We have learned a lot from that," he added.
In his opening remarks, Mr Pichai said Google was committed to supporting federal privacy legislation and that it had checks and balances on the data that users provide when using the company's products.
"Protecting the privacy and security of our users has long been an essential part of our mission," he said.
However, he was questioned by committee chairman Bob Goodlatte, a Republican, on whether "people knew what they were signing up to" when they agreed to Google's terms and conditions.
"We focus on their knowledge, happiness and success," Mr Pichai replied, again denying that Google searches contained political bias or that advertising rates – by using keywords - would be cheaper for one political party than for another.
Such rates are "automatically calculated" using "a supply and demand equilibrium," he told Congress.
"There could be variations based on times of the day and the keywords you are looking for," he added.
Countering the arguments made by Mr Smith and Mr Goodlatte, Democratic Representative Steve Cohen said the top results from searches of his name had led to conservative outlets, despite him appearing on MSNBC, considered a liberal television network, five times and for eight minutes each time at the weekend.

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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.”

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
MEDIEVIL%20(1998)
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets