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5 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT
Lawyer Saleh Ahmed Alobeidli highlights elements buyers should be aware of when investing in property
UPFRONT
08 THREE REASONS WHY
UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced radical new measures to stimulate international investment
COMMENT
12 INNOVATION
The UAE is the region’s tech pioneer but new initiatives will further accelerate home-grown innovation, Liam Halligan believes
THE BIG STORY
20 LEADERSHIP
Middle East CEOs are applying the lessons from Covid-19 to seize the growth opportunities ahead
COVER STORY
SUSTAINABILITY 2021: A VITAL SHIFT IN THE MIDDLE EASTLombard Odier’s Arnaud Leclercq and Christopher Kaminker explore how sustainability trends are accelerating in the region and worldwide
#22/04 April 2021Arabian
Business/Contents
06 FIRST WORD
q The arrival of a vaccination passport would motivate people around the world to proactively seek a vaccine”Scott [email protected]
TRADING
Talal Al Ajmi, founder and CEO of online trading platform VI Markets, discusses GCC investment trends
3014 40 42
MOBILITY
Norbert Ruecker from Swiss wealth manager Julius Baer shares his views on the future of electric mobility
PREVIEW: MAYBACH S-CLASS
The new Mercedes-Maybach S-Class offers a rear passenger experience like no other
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6 Vol. 22/04, April 2021
Q THE ARRIVAL OF A VACCINATION PASSPORT WOULD MOTIVATE PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD
TO PROACTIVELY SEEK A VACCINE, KNOWING THEY CAN EARN THE RIGHT TO TRAVEL FREELY”
How can we reach for the skies again? Vaccination passports will surely helpWould enabling vaccinated travellers to move freely help instantly reboot the travel and tourism sector?
Health England, Dr Mary Ramsay, said that there was now evidence that vaccines not only work to prevent infections but also to stop people transmitting the virus “almost completely”. This is obviously hugely encouraging for us all and provides the first signposts to a post-Covid world.
For the travel and tourism sector, it could also offer a means of dealing with travellers on an individual basis – and not the broad brush of the country from which they’re travelling. Instead of blanket bans or 14-day quarantines in hotel rooms as they currently have in the UK and now Ireland, travel should be facilitated to anyone – from anywhere – who has received two shots vaccines recognised by the WHO. This information can be stored in a card or eventually even in a chip in a passport or through a QR code on a mobile phone.
In the first instance, it would reward and recognise the efforts of countries which have implemented a hugely successful vaccination programme. It seems grossly unfair that the UAE, with almost 6 million doses now administered, would remain on international red lists.
And the arrival of a vaccination passport would motivate people around the world to proactively seek a vaccine, knowing they can earn the right to travel freely. Making moves There has been some debate on the idea of a vaccine passport from international travel bodies such as IATA. Bahrain has now launched a programme via its “BeAware” app, while the Seychelles, a nation whose economy is almost entirely reliant on inbound tourism, has announced it will accept travellers able to prove they’ve received a vaccine.
British Airways have voiced their desire for a vaccine passport, and even the EU has begun discussing plans for this. Etihad Airways has also said that passengers flying from Abu Dhabi will be able to use health passports “very soon”, and Oman Air is also planning its own vaccine passport.
I’ve argued before that each of us has a responsibility to be part of the solution, not the problem, and if this gets us all back travelling, to me it seems a win-win.
DECEMBER 18TH, 2019, A DATE
conspicuous in my mind for one reason only – it was the last time I was on a plane. Had I known at the time that the Emirates flight from London to Dubai was going to be my last for such an extended period, perhaps I would have savoured it more (though I recall a fair amount of savouring after a business class upgrade).
Now, frankly, I’m itching to get back up there again and the question that keeps coming up in conversation with friends and colleagues is ‘what’s needed to get the industry back on its feet?’
There isn’t, of course, a single answer. For much of 2020, allowing people to travel between countries safely and with confidence – and without putting the destination’s population at risk – required an integrated approach from governments, airlines, hotels and tour operators.
In many ways, the UAE became a model for this. Whether it was the PCR test facilitation by Emirates Airline, the mask and social distancing mandates from the authorities or the adoption of the World Travel & Tourism Council’s Safe Travels certification by many of the hotels in the UAE. The country’s tourism community came together to ensure people from all over the world could plan a trip to the UAE safe in the knowledge that every precaution has been taken
to protect their wellbeing.Over the New Year period,
we saw the results of that, with hotel occupancy rates soaring and the nation’s airports registering pre-pandemic passenger traffic. Indeed, it could be argued the UAE, and Dubai in particular, was among the most conspicuously successful tourism destinations, unlocking huge pent-up demand from holidaymakers in key source markets. Shot in the armMoving into 2021, though, the answer is much simpler: vaccination. Put simply, vaccines work. Earlier last month, the head of immunisation at Public
u Vaccination information can be stored in a card or even in a chip in a passport or through a QR code on a mobile phone
$272mThe value generated by the World’s Coolest Winter tourism campaign in the UAE
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8 Vol. 22/04, April 2021
Nasser Al Sheibani
Agthia Group
The CEO of Al Mouj Muscat says there is a
“strong interest” for ultra-luxury properties in Oman
Agthia Group saw its net profi ts fall by over 74 percent in 2020, despite
registering increased year-on-year revenues
Upfront
NEWS IN NUMBERS
New investment funds
A new Leeds-based Infrastructure Bank is being launched with £12bn ($16.7bn) in capital, with the aim of funding £40bn ($55.7bn) worth of public and private projects. The UK government also announced a £375m ($522m) nationwide Future Fund: Breakthrough. The fund will invest in highly innovative companies, such as those working in life sciences, quantum computing, or clean tech, and that aim to raise at least $27.8m of funding.
Freeports announcedThe UK government
announced eight free ports for England, which could represent signifi cant Middle Eastern opportunities. Sunak said the “special economic zones with different rules to make it easier and cheaper to do business” would come with simpler planning, cheaper customs and lower taxes, with “tax breaks to encourage construction, investment and job creation”. The new free ports are located outside of London, including Liverpool, Plymouth and Solent.
Stamp duty savings Britain’s stamp duty
holiday, announced as part of the annual budget, represents a boon for Arab property buyers who are looking to take advantage of rosy prospects in the prime central London market. The holiday – where tax is suspended on the fi rst £500,000 ($696,000) of all property sales – has been extended for three months until June 30. After this date, the starting rate of stamp duty will be £250,000 ($348,000) until the end of September.
GOOD MONTH
BAD MONTH
The top news and business headlines from the region
APRIL 2021
THREE REASONS WHY
25%
$5bnRENEWABLE ENERGY
EDUCATION
Value of KSA’s energy plant that will be powered by sun and wind
The rise in Aldar Education’s gross profi t for 2020
UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced radical new measures to stimulate international investment
MENA energy investment outlook 2020-2024The total committed and planned energy investments in the MENA region for 2020-2024 are expected to be in excess of $792bn
THREE REASONS WHY
UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak announc
The UK budget opens up opportunities for Arab investors
MENA 2020-24 CommittedProjects by Industry
Committed MENA Energy Investment (USD Bn)
Oil
41%
Power
27%
Power
Chemicals
Gas
Oil
Chemical
6%
Gas
26%
Total
343bnUSD
Sou
rce:
A
PIC
OR
P
arabianbusiness.com 9
UPFRONT
Gifts UAE infl uencers receive will now be subject to additional payment beyond the cost of the item or experience.
Earlier in March, the Federal Tax Authority announced a Value Added Tax (VAT) that businesses working with infl uencers must settle if the infl uencer earns more than AED375,000 per year in freebies.
Can you clarify the move? When an infl uencer gets a free
holiday, for example, it is in exchange for posting about it on their social media account, effectively providing an advertisement for this hotel. The FTA is saying that this is actually a transaction because they are providing a service to the hotel or gift provider.
From now on, if these infl uencers receive gifts in the amount of over AED375,000 per year, they need to register for VAT with the FTA and issue
AB ONLINE SO C I A L A N D D I G I TA L SU BSC R I B E :
VIDEO Luxury villa on Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah sold for over $30mONE100 Palm includes a wellness spa, state-of-the-art fitness centre, massive assorted candy wall, cinema and three gourmet kitchens
THE STORY Emirates president forecasts quick return of passengers and profitabilityEmirates Airline president Sir Tim Clark is confident the Dubai-based carrier will get back to profitability “fairly quickly”
COMMENT
qAmazing article. It’s a vision of making the kingdom and ideal adventure destination”Arabian Business reader Ross Millar’s reaction on the article ‘Company launched amid call to action to Saudi’s adventurers, athletes and explorers’
ArabianBusiness
THE EXPLAINER
APRIL 2021
an invoice based on what the gift or experience would have cost a paying customer.
The company providing the gift will then be charged a 5 percent VAT which they would need to pay to the infl uencer who in turn will pay that to the FTA.
Once they have registered for the VAT, infl uencers will need to issue an invoice for any freebie they receive, whether it is worth AED10 or AED10m.
Who does the announcement target?Mainly infl uencers, but essentially anyone who gets free things in exchange for promoting them to their followers or subscribers.
How will this impact the infl uencer? This is not going to cost the infl uencer anything as all the money will effectively be paid by the people giving them the stuff.
The only time it will cost the infl uencer anything is when they don’t comply with the law and then they get penalties.
However, it might cost them business in the sense that gift providers might not want to pay VAT and hence think twice before working with infl uencers.
What happens if an infl uencer does not comply? They will receive penalties from the FTA. There’s a fi xed penalty fee if they haven’t registered and another one if they have missed issuing an invoice. They are also charged a percentage up to a maximum of 300 percent of any VAT that would have had to be paid in addition to paying the VAT amount.
UAE’s infl uencers now subject to VAT on gifts: Here’s what it means
Tyne Hugo, associate at local law fi rm BSA, discusses how the announcement by UAE’s Federal Tax Authority (FTA) regarding taxing gifts will impact the country’s social media infl uencers
u Infl uencers in the UAE will need to issue an invoice for any freebie they receive, says VAT lawyer Tyne Hugo
10 Vol. 22/04, April 2021
COMMENT / By Joe Hepworth, Director, OCO Middle East, and Founder of the British Centres for Business (BCB)
WHEN IT COMES TO THE GCC region’s current foreign direct investment landscape, the cat’s not so much amongst the pigeons, as has taken up permanent residency in Pigeon Central and is now applying for citizenship.
In August last year, we had the Abraham
u UAE businesses and investors feel confi dent about the emirate’s economic opportunities
COMMENENENT / By Joe He
Accords signalling the rapprochement between Israel and the UAE and Bahrain; in January, the AlUla Agreement was signed to end the diplomatic stand-off with Qatar; and in February, Saudi Arabia signalled that multinationals wanting to win public
contracts would need to have their regional headquarters in the kingdom.
With so many significant initiatives and changes, it’s hard to keep up with what this actually means for companies looking at moving to, and growing, in the region, but I think it is
possible to discern a few clear trends.
Firstly, for the short-to-medium term at least, the UAE’s position as the pre-eminent regional business hub is secure on the basis that, along with Bahrain, it’s the only country that can provide
What’s in store for the GCC’s inward investment market in 2021?The UAE will continue to enjoy its status as the pre-eminent business hub in this part of the world
COMMENT
ArabianBusiness.com 11
Q EXPO 2020 DUBAI IS LIKELY TO BE A FORUM FOR BOTH COUNTRIES AND COMPANIES ALIKE TO PUT
THEIR BEST FOOT FORWARD”
total regional connectivity to the whole of the Levant and GCC. This very much plays back to the founding pitch for pioneer free zones like Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAZFA), Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) – that they can offer complete regional access and that, ostensibly, they can support companies and investors from anywhere in the world.
Whilst the UAE’s regional play is intact, most obviously through Dubai, we’re also seeing the rise of challenger jurisdictions in the UAE. Ras Al Khaimah is one example, which, through Ras Al Khaimah Economic Zone (RAKEZ), has built an international reputation as a cost effective and efficient place to set up manufacturing operations. FDI is less interested in reputations and more attracted to practicalities, particularly post-coronavirus, so a number of the newer and more agile locations are grabbing market share based on their more pragmatic approaches.
Battle of the free zonesFor Qatar, freshly back in the fold, there’s obviously a serious benefit for the likes of Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) and Qatar Free Zones Authority (QFZA), that companies established there can now access the rest of the GCC, so we can expect to see more regional competition for investment from Qatar.
QFC for example, will now be challenging for the same FDI projects that might previously have only been
considering locating in DIFC or Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM).
Indeed, that investment attraction in the Middle East is now altogether more competitive can only be of benefit to the investor companies themselves. Gone are the days of ‘build it and they will come’.
We are now seeing across the region a very keen sharpening of offers and approaches, with increases in foreign ownership provisions, long-term visas, access to residency and more, all becoming more common. All of this coming in 2021, as we emerge from 12 months of Covid-induced chaos in many sectors, means there’s an increasingly compelling array of options for companies looking at the region for the first time, and that’s got to be good for the corporate world.
You may think that this is bad for the UAE, and
Dubai in particular, but the country’s first-mover advantage, established supply chains, international reputation, and mature industry ecosystems are not something that can be replicated easily or quickly elsewhere in the region, if at all.
Similarly, there’s the old adage that being the best house on the worst street is not really much of a positive, so the wider region improving its offer actually benefits the UAE regardless.
2021 will likely see a small flow of Israeli companies looking to establish operations in the UAE, however, this is unlikely to be the Klondike that many have predicted. Look beyond the few headline announcements, and there’s not actually a huge FDI flow there. Rather, we expect to see Israeli firms establish commercial partnerships, and distributor and agency agreements in the UAE as they test the market first rather than diving in headlong. They are playing a long game.
The Saudi moveSaudi Arabia’s recent diktat on regional HQs is obviously still being mulled over in boardrooms here and worldwide and, like all such announcements, details and substance are sought to understand exactly what this means and how it will be implemented and monitored.
In many ways, this is no different to current practice in the Saudi energy sector whereby any company in the Aramco supply chain has to be locally registered
and engaged in In-Country Value programmes. This has obviously led to most international companies opting to do business through local agency agreements, so this is likely to be the main outcome with regard to the HQ ruling, certainly for SMEs, who wouldn’t have the wherewithal to establish Saudi operations anyway.
HSBC presents an interesting case. The bank operates in Saudi Arabia primarily through its local subsidiary SABB which is listed on the Riyadh exchange and viewed as local entity. As such, it’s unlikely that HSBC would be compelled to move their regional HQ from their new purpose-built office tower in Downtown Dubai, when it already has a fully established and very large local footprint in KSA. Maybe, this might be the model that other multinational firms follow in the medium-term, by establishing genuine Saudi-based operations that are treated as local businesses, which negates the HQ requirement.
Whilst we await this to fully play out, it’s probably a fair assumption that we haven’t seen the last of the big news in this area for 2021.
Expo 2020 Dubai is likely to be a forum for both countries and companies alike to put their best foot forward, so I think we can expect a flurry of developments later in the year once Expo is underway. With the world’s focus on the region, there will be no better time to make a splash and claim the spotlight, even if your competitor does the same the next day.
85%The percentage of investors in the UAE who said they are optimistic about the year, a UBS survey said
Q WE ARE NOW SEEING ACROSS THE REGION A VERY KEEN SHARPENING OF OFFERS AND APPROACHES, WITH INCREASES IN FOREIGN OWNERSHIP PROVISIONS, LONG-TERM VISAS, ACCESS TO RESIDENCY AND MORE”
12 Vol. 22/04, April 2021
COMMENT / By Liam Halligan, columnist for the Daily Telegraph
THE MIDDLE EAST’S NEXT
“unicorn” will be Emirati. So says Waze co-founder Uri Levine, the entrepreneur whose traffic and navigation app was bought by Google for over $1.1bn in 2013.
It is, he insists, “very likely” that the UAE will produce the region’s next billion-dollar
u Dubai Internet City is home to 1,600 companies working across AI, big data, cybersecurity, cloud technologies and robotics
COMMENTT / By Liam Ha
business. Indeed, two recent unicorns – companies valued at over $1bn– were created in the Emirates.
The e-commerce website Souq.com was bought by Amazon in 2017 and the ride-hailing app Careem was sold to Uber last year. The UAE has a growing reputation
as a significant incubator of technology start-ups – and deservedly so.
Across the Middle East and North Africa, start-up firms attracted investments topping $1bn during 2020, according to the MAGNiTT data platform. Despite coronavirus, MENA start-ups
attracted more investment last year than in 2019, and this reflects investor confidence in the tech sector. Of all the MENA nations, the UAE ranked first in terms of both the number of investment deals – securing 26 percent – and overall capital invested. The nation’s
Why the next billion-dollar company might be from the UAEThe Emirates is already the region’s tech pioneer but the Abraham Accords will help accelerate another wave of home-grown innovation
COMMENT
ArabianBusiness.com 13
Q THE UAE HAS BECOME A MAGNET FOR TALENT FROM MORE TECHNOLOGICALLY-
ADVANCED NATIONS”
domestic tech market, already worth close to $10bn a year, is growing fast.
That reflects the careful construction over the last two decades of a vibrant UAE tech ecosystem. Founded in 1999, Dubai Internet City (DIC) now hosts 1,600 companies working across artificial intelligence, big data, cybersecurity, cloud technologies and robotics. Favourable tax and ownership rules have seen many global IT firms establish their regional base in DIC – including Facebook, Google, Microsoft, IBM and Huawei.
The UAE has, meanwhile, become a magnet for talent from more technologically-advanced nations. The draw lies in the ease-of-doing-business and quality-of-life factors as well as the availability of visas for start-up founders.
And as the search for tech capability heats up, the UAE is now granting citizenship to selected investors and prized tech professionals.
New relationshipsEmirates’ tech prospects have been particularly enhanced
by last summer’s Abraham Accords that normalised diplomatic relations between the UAE and Israel.
Signed in 2020, the peace agreement has sparked a rush to forge closer ties between the Middle East’s two main finance and technology hubs – explaining Levine’s prediction that another Emirati unicorn will soon emerge.
Israel’s super-advanced tech sector is rich in knowhow, employs a tenth of the workforce and drives almost half the
country’s exports of goods and services. Now the UAE wants an outsized global tech status too – not only as an innovation hub but as a centre for tech money-raising, building on the existing financial services sector and helping the broader diversification away from oil and gas.
Already, Israeli-Emirati tech deals are afoot – in some cases bringing into the open commercial tie-ups kept covert prior to diplomatic rapprochement. Last August, Abu Dhabi’s APEX National Investment hooked up with Israel’s TeraGroup to develop a rapid Covid-19 testing device. Abu Dhabi AI outfit Group 42 similarly signed a deal with two Israeli defence firms, to conduct joint coronavirus research.
Bahrain, which signed its own peace deal with Israel following the UAE’s lead has already unlocked a surge of cross-border investments as Israeli tech firms look to tap into the UAE’s financing capacity, while using the Emirates as a gateway to the broader Arab world. The UAE, meanwhile, now has an opportunity to turbocharge its tech sector.
Elsewhere in the Gulf, Saudi Arabia also wants to diversify away from hydrocarbons towards tech. Late last year, Western Union, the world’s largest money transfer firm, paid $200m for a 15 percent stake in STC – valuing the payments business at $1.3bn, creating Saudi’s first unicorn.
The recent announcement of NEOM, the futuristic city set to cost $500bn, put tech at the heart of Saudi’s “Vision 2030” economic reinvention
u The UAE is fast emerging as a major global science and technology hub
programme. But to become the region’s main tech hub, the kingdom must take on the UAE, seeing as most of the global tech firms operating in the Gulf are already based in Dubai.
During this Covid-19 pandemic, the UAE’s tech scene has continued to develop rapidly – and across the world, lockdowns have heightened our tech dependence. As hundreds of millions of us have been forced to work, shop, learn and entertain ourselves from home, the valuations of the US tech giants have soared. The FAANG stocks – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google – are now worth well in excess of $6 trillion between them. That’s more than the annual GDP of the UK and France combined.
Great power, new responsibility?Some say the huge growth of “big tech” means we’re in for a regulatory backlash that could then see governments everywhere, taking their cue from the US authorities, starting to limit tech-related innovation.
However, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in the US remain hungry for campaign donations and are mindful that China’s tech champions are becoming ever more prominent – and if the US firms are hindered, their international rivals could take advantage.
So US big tech will surely remain lightly regulated, a trend the rest of the world – including the Middle East – will follow. And the UAE is surely about to emerge, and fast, as a major global tech hub.
$1bnThe investment in MENA start-ups during 2020, according to MAGNiTT data
Q FAVOURABLE TAX AND OWNERSHIP RULES HAVE SEEN MANY GLOBAL I.T. FIRMS ESTABLISH THEIR REGIONAL BASE IN D.I.C. INCLUDING FACEBOOK, GOOGLE AND MICROSOFT”
14 Vol. 22/04, April 2021
THE BIG INTERVIEW / Norbert Ruecker, Head of Economics and Next Generation Research at Julius Baer
What are the three most important trends that will mark mobility until 2030? Any crisis is a catalyst that accelerates established transitions. Among the many examples supporting this thesis there are a few that stick out, such as the energy transition and, in particular, the shift towards plug-in cars away from combustion engines. Here are three trends that stand out:
THE BIG INTERVIEW
Commuting as we know itVery soon mobility will most likely look and feel like before the pandemic. There is no other option than learning to live with the virus and its after-
effects and it’s all about finding out what works for you.
T r e n d s i n m o b i l i t y are largely driven by the economy, and in part thanks to stimulus packages by various governments will support economic recovery thereby leading to growing employment rates increasing the need to commute. Another aspect having an impact on the trend is our longing for social interaction as well as travelling.
Are we ready for an electric revolution?Norbert Ruecker, Head of Economics and Next Generation Research at Swiss wealth manager Julius Baer, shares his vision of the future of electric mobility
Public transport will be used again and we will be back on airplanes in no time.
Welcome to the decade of the electric carThe developments in the past months, confirm our view that the era of electric mobility is about to take off this decade. Automakers had prepared many new model launches and governments accelerate the transition by
11.2 millionThe projected sales of electric vehicles worldwide in 2025, according to a report from Deloitte
ArabianBusiness.com 15
THE BIG INTERVIEW
Q IT IS SAFE TO SAY THAT TECHNOLOGY IS SET TO MAKE MOBILITY CLEANER, SAFER, AND MORE
ACCESSIBLE FOR EVERYONE”
Q TOWARDS 2030, WE WILL HAVE A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF HOW AUTOMATION CAN TRULY REVOLUTIONALISE MOBILITY”
u Several automakers are showing a credible
journey towards offering economic, long-range and
clean electric vehicles before 2030
towards offering economic, long-range and clean electric vehicles before 2030.
The charging networks grows by the day, plugs at home and at work are ever more common, and fast charging alongside routes becomes ever faster.
Evolution of automationThird, towards 2030, we will have a better understanding of how automation can truly revolutionalise mobility. Automation can make life a lot easier for many of us and hopping into a taxi without a driver , or having the groceries delivered front door autonomously, has already become a reality for some.
Therefore, there is great business potential in the concept and it offers the means for cities to ease congestion and increase quality of life. By the end of the decade we will have more clarity where this journey goes.
The pandemic has changed the way we interact and talk to our clients and colleagues. It has ushered in the era of video conferencing. Is this the end of business travel? FOMO is surely stronger than Flygskam. So my answer is NO. However, business travel is one area where we could see a meaningful impact in terms of change in mobility habits. The pandemic forced businesses into incorporating online tools into work, and it forced clients and employees to learn to use them to their benefits as there
was no other alternative. Many companies realised
that there was no feared productivity loss or that meaningful cost savings were achieved. We still need physical meetings, they are simply much more convenient to get in touch, build trust.
The future will likely see us striking the balance between both worlds, and this balance is one when things are back to normal , we will travel much less for business reasons. However, flying in general will soon be back to pre-crisis levels. Leisure already accounted for more trips than business before the crisis and will compensate the business shortfall swiftly.
Do you think we’ve reached the oil peak demand and will it ever return to pre-pandemic levels?With mobility representing the lion’s share of oil demand, we also see a peak in global oil demand as very likely before 2030. The next two to three years will be all about the economic recovery and will lead to world oil demand likely reaching new highs, exceeding pre-pandemic levels. Then, the transition to electric cars will eventually show up and should pressure oil use first in Europe, followed by China and the US, and then globally.
Thanks to how swiftly electric cars are evolving, road transport is on track for net zero levels. This visibility on a key contributor to climate change is one of the reasons we hear more net zero pledges recently. But this transition will cause significant tremors beyond the auto and oil business as i t causes a power shift geopolitically, a loss of relevance for the petro-nations.
setting emission limits and supporting electric cars, both as part of the efforts to mitigate climate change and support cleaner mobility.
Plug-ins now account for roughly 20 percent of new cars in Europe, and roughly 9 percent in China. With the new government, the United States will likely move in a similar direction. You have several other countries including the UK announcing their mobility goals for the decade. More importantly, we should not underestimate how quickly technology evolves. Several automakers are showing a credible journey
u Regis Burger, Head of MEA at Julius Baer
Regional trendsGulf countries are adopting sustainable strategies to boost their economies
Sustainability has gone beyond being just a buzz word in the region and in its own way the Middle East is adapting to this trend. Dubai’s recent announcement of its 2040 Urban Master Plan with its focus on sustainable and fl exible means of mobility to foster economic activity is just one of the recent examples showing the region’s commit-ments towards creating circular economies.
We see an increasing interest in exploring investment options surrounding smart mobility and clean energy. Through our next generation investment philosophy, which looks at capturing mega trends, we continue to introduce clients to concepts that will impact the way we live tomorrow.
Julius Baer has been a proponent of smart mobility way before it became a mainstream discussion point. I am particularly proud of our founding partnership with FIA Formula E World Championship which is an investment in to our society’s future.
Our partnership with Formula E is a strong example of where we have forged a link between assets on the one hand and the worlds of science and business on the other.
THE BIG PICTURE
Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has launched the Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan that lays out a comprehensive future for sustainable urban development in the city. The master plan focusses on using available spaces within the limits of the current city and concentrating development in existing urban areas.
PHOTO COURTESY OF DUBAI MEDIA OFFICE
BROUGHT TO YOU BY:
18 Vol. 22/04, April 2021
In 1998, 23-year-old Farid Chedid founded Chedid Re in Cyprus as a reinsurance broker with a three-person team. Within 15 years, it had become one of the world’s top 20 reinsurance brokers, and is today considered the number-one reinsur-ance network in MENA. With offi ces across Beirut, Casablanca, Dubai, Limassol, London and Riyadh, Chedid Re employs more than 300 employees and services around 400 insurance companies in 45 countries on three continents, recently partnering with Hellenic Sun to cover Pakistan. Today, the Group counts 1,300 employees, 40 subsidiaries and more that $1bn of premium handled.
As Chedid Re developed at a rapid pace, in 2006 Farid Chedid founded Chedid Capital, a fi nancial holding company, to invest in the complete insurance and reinsurance business cycle. The group launched Chedid Insurance Brokers Network in Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Qatar before acquiring Al Manarah in Dubai, Al Afaq in Qatar and City Brokers in Mauritius to
RESILIENCE, AGILITY AND EFFICIENCY
SPOTLIGHT
How Chedid Capital built an unmatched network across the Middle East and Africa’s reinsurance and insurance sectors
grow its brokerage network. In Qatar, Chedid Capital launched Seib Insurance, which became one of the top three health insurers in the market over less than a decade.
Chedid Capital then launched E-Darat, a digital HR platform, as well as the Corporate Risk Management Institute (CRMI), which specialises in fi nancial and operation risk as well as corporate governance, in partnership with the Institute of Risk Management (IRM) in London.
In 2021, Chedid Capital acquired Ascoma, the leading insurance broking network in French-speaking Africa, present in 21 countries with offi ces in Monaco and Paris. “Ascoma and Chedid Insurance Brokers are the leading insurance broking network in Africa and the Middle East and we want to reinforce our presence in those regions,” says Farid Chedid.
He credits the group’s growth to the perseverance of his teams and their desire to always seek out new opportunities. This stems from a broader set of values: “Resil-
ience, agility, effi ciency and customer centric are key in our day-to-day strategy across all entities in the group.”
A sizeable networkBesides values, geographical presence has fuelled the growth of Chedid Capital’s ventures. A prime example is the Chedid Insurance Brokers Network. With more than 300 staff operating across MENA, the network’s broad reach allows cross-market leveraging of relationships; customisable insurance programmes for a range of budgets; and assures that information provided to underwriters is comprehensive.
Salem Al Suleiman, CEO of Chedid & Associates KSA, says, “MENA societies are keen to fi nd the right insurance solution to protect themselves and their assets. We have the expertise, experience and teams to service our clients across the region.”
Joseph Faddoul, executive director, Chedid Insurance Brokers Network, adds, “We have a
u (From left) Farid Chedid, founder, chairman and CEO of Chedid Capital Holding; Edouard Lagourgue, managing director of Ascoma; Matthew Horlock, Chedid Re London CEO
arabianbusiness.com 19
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Leveraging technology While multinationals have long benefi ted from cross-border operations, the coronavirus pandemic highlighted certain vulnerabilities in a global model. However, quick decision-making and technological investments helped Chedid Capital weather the storm.
Mohamed Khalifeh, executive director for group governance, compliance and risk management (GRC) at Chedid Capital, explains, “The group rolled out its work-from-home policy in record time – ahead of other market players and long before government-imposed lockdowns.”
Chedid Capital proactively revised its GRC department’s internal audit function and
“Our presence in London provides direct links to key decision-makers”
clear strategy to work hand in hand with our clients and insurance companies to service them and to provide the best, most credible solutions for their insurance needs. Our exceptional growth comes fi rst from the ethics and transparency we use when dealing with all our stakeholders.”
As a business network grows, it’s eventually able to pass on the benefi ts of scale to clients. That’s why Chedid Capital acquired 80 percent of Ascoma’s insurance brokerage business across Africa – 780 employees operating across 21 countries – and established the leading brokerage network across the Middle East and Africa.
The acquisition uniquely positions Chedid Capital to work with major multinationals consolidating their business with the group, says Farid Chedid. “We can offer a focal point for them with a large coverage, proposing better terms since we are getting their whole business. We can provide multinationals many other services that smaller operations can’t, such as risk management assessment.”
Edouard Lagourgue, Managing Director of Ascoma, says, “The acquisition of Ascoma by Chedid Capital will strengthen Ascoma’s business expertise, risk manage-ment culture and quality of insurance investments and will defi nitely reinforce the presence of Ascoma in Africa, a continent with huge potential, a continent we started our journey in 70 years ago.”
working plans to factor in new risks associated with the pandemic.
A reworked Business Continuity Plan places greater emphasis on data mapping, legal applications and security testing, with a cross-functional emergency team combating cybersecurity risks. Besides a new cybersecu-rity insurance policy, the department’s compliance function also added an array of state-of-the-art online tools.
The belief in technology as the future of insurance permeates every Chedid Capital venture, and was the key motivation behind launching E-Darat, says Edouard Traboulsi, Executive Director at Chedid Capital. Addition-ally, he singles out the UAE – and Dubai in particular – as an ideal launch pad for new technology concepts within the region, even in a pandemic.
Relationships matterOf course, it takes more than technology to thrive in the competitive insurance and reinsurance industries. Another crucial aspect of service-oriented sectors like these, says Matthew Horlock, Chedid Re London CEO, is client relationships.
“Our presence in London provides direct links to key decision-makers and places us in an unparalleled position to access opportunities in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.”
Chedid Re has been a registered Lloyd’s broker for nearly six years and has a strategic relationship with Lloyds since 1998 – something Horlock says testifi es to the broker’s trusted status across markets.
Wadih Hardini, GM of Chedid Re Dubai, says his team’s long-term relationships with clients and authorities have provided a key strategic advantage. “We are proud of that, and would like to be part of the UAE’s economic and social growth.”
Educational valuesBeyond growth and technology, Chedid Capital invests heavily in another important asset: people. That’s why it founded the Chedid Academy in 2006 to develop insurance and fi nancial expertise at a group level through specialised training. To build on this, in 2019, Chedid Capital launched its CRMI.
“Risk management and corporate governance are key to the development of the fi nancial and non-fi nancial sectors,” says Farid Chedid, who is also chairman and CEO of the CRMI. “We aim to help create centres of excellence for fi nancial sectors to compete with the international hubs.”
u The London offi ce caters to Chedid Re’s international investments and businesses
400The number of insurance companies working with Chedid Re in 45 countries
“The acquisition of Ascoma by Chedid Capital will strengthen Ascoma’s business expertise, risk management culture and quality of insurance investments”
I T WA S S A I D B Y O N E B U S I N E S S expert last year that for companies simply to still be operating at the end of 2020 would be considered a ‘good year’ as the global coronavirus pandemic caused an economic tsunami and ripped through balance sheets on an
unprecedented scale. The uncertainty caused by Covid-19 was compounded by plummeting oil prices, geopolitical tensions and volatility in the markets.
However, according to the 24th annual edition of PwC’s CEO survey, although the road ahead in 2021 “will still contain
The latest CEO survey from consultancy giants PwC shows 52 percent are very confi dent of revenue growth in the next one-to-three years as the business world bounces back from coronavirus
Light at the end of the tunnel
BY GAVIN GIBBON
72% The percentage of CEOs in the region who believe worldwide economic growth will improve in 2021
20 Vol. 22/04, April 2021
THE BIG STORY / Pw C C EO S u r vey
u The majority of Middle East CEOs are very confi dent about their organisation’s growth prospects over the next three years
many obstacles and dangers”, for those who learn the lessons from the crisis “potential growth opportunities beckon”.
Hani Ashkar, Middle East senior partner, told Arabian Business that the prevailing mood among CEOs at the start of this year, is “cautious, well-
founded optimism” – with tech and talent among the investment priorities of those at the top.
Results from the survey showed 52 percent of Middle East CEOs, compared with 47 percent globally, are “very confident” that their organisation’s
revenue will grow on a one-to-three-year horizon – the sharpest rebound in sentiment of any region worldwide, compared with last year’s survey.
Ashkar said: “More than half of the CEOs we surveyed responded that they were very confident about their organisation’s medium-term growth prospects and we believe that this is fuelled by the sense that we’re almost out of a pandemic, and also stronger for it.”
UAE’s business confi denceIndeed, the UAE has been recognised as one of the best countries in the world in terms of administering the Covid-19 vaccine with well over 7 million doses completed across the country already. And, as a result, 72 percent of Middle East CEOs, and a record 76 percent globally, believe that worldwide economic growth will improve in 2021.
“The success of vaccine programmes, coupled with the resurgent oil price, indicate that 2021 will see a return to economic growth for all Middle East countries of around 3 percent median real GDP growth across the region, so our CEOs’ optimism isn’t unfounded,” said Ashkar.
“Digitisation and the use of new technologies will be central to corporate transformation”
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u Hani Ashkar, Senior Partner, PwC Middle East
According to the survey, CEOs in the region are drawing on their experience of surviving the dual shocks of Covid-19 and record low oil prices to build “smarter, more resilient organisations”, in order to capitalise on the growth opportunities ahead.
In particular, the pandemic has arguably changed the way people work forever, with the sudden shift to remote working being openly adopted by most companies post-lockdown. As a result, the mental health of staff has been pushed high up the agenda, with the work/life balance often skewed.
Half of bosses surveyed agreed that the good health and well-being of the workforce should be a priority that businesses help deliver.
Ashkar said: “CEOs are taking more accountability for the physical and mental health of their employees as a business priority, in a world where the pandemic will continue to disrupt work and home life for the foreseeable
future; this will definitely be an area of investment in the coming months.”
Strategic realignmentThe last 12 months has also forced CEOs to reassess and overhaul business and operating models, as well as corporate
u CEOs have learned from the impact of Covid-19 and are building more resilient businesses to seize growth opportunities ahead
26%The percentage of CEOs in the region who believe Saudi Arabia is the most popular growth destination
Do you believe global economic growth will improve, stay the same or decline over the next 12 months?Middle East
2020
100%
75%
50%
25%
0%
100%
75%
50%
25%
0% 20202021 2021
Global
Improve
Stay the same
Decline
11%22%
72% 76%
32%24%
13% 10%
57% 53%
15% 14%
22 Vol. 22/04, April 2021
transformation programmes, which were planned and developed before the onset of the pandemic. And a large majority of survey respondents revealed that would continue, with 76 percent saying they are looking to find operational efficiencies in the next year in order to drive growth.
“CEOs are looking to reconfigure their companies to make the most of market opportunities that are starting to emerge from the upheaval,” said Ashkar.
Unlike in the aftermath of the global financial crisis in 2010, when only 11 percent of Middle East CEOs surveyed said they planned to increase their investments in digital transformation, the 2021 results showed that number to
be 59 percent (compared to 49 percent globally), with company bosses aiming to increase their investments in digital transformation by 10 percent or more in the next three years, as a direct response to Covid-19.
Ashkar explained: “Digitisation and the use of new technologies will be central to corporate transformation. Companies have seen most value and opportunity in digitalisation and are prioritising upskilling in order to transform out of the crisis. 70 percent of Middle East CEOs believe that a skilled, educated and adaptable workforce is a top business priority.”
However, this will not necessarily result in smaller workforces when growth returns. According to the survey, which questioned over 5,000 CEOs in 100 countries and territories in January and February this year, 47 percent of Middle East CEOs reported that they had reduced headcount over the past 12 months by between 3 percent and 10 percent or more, “significantly higher” than the global average.
However, it added: “By the start of 2021, some Middle East CEOs appear to feel that they had shrunk their payrolls too far in the first wave of the crisis, and our findings indicate that as business confidence revives, CEOs are starting to hire again”.
This is backed by statistics which show 50 percent of Middle East CEOs, more than any other region, plan to increase their headcount by between 3 percent and 10 percent or more.
However, while the confidence may be high that the world is finally seeing a glimmer of light the end of the devastating coronavirus tunnel, the scars of the past 12 months are expected to linger for some time to come.
The survey revealed 56 percent of business leaders across the region said that Covid-19 continued to preoccupy their thoughts, slightly more than the global average, believing that pandemics and other health crises are the most serious threats confronting their organisations.
59% The number of CEO respondents in the region who said they aim to increase their digital investments by 10 percent or more over the next three years
31% The percentage of regional CEOs who said they are slightly more cautious in the short term
41% The proportion of CEOs who said they hope to form a new strategic alliance or joint venture in the next 12 months — up from 36 percent last year
35% The slice of Middle East CEOs who said they are planning to enter a new market in the next year, more than any other region in the survey
Findings from the CEO survey
“CEOs are taking accountability for the physical and mental health of their employees as a business priority”
50% The percentage of Middle East CEOs who regard good health and wellbeing of the workforce as a priority that businesses should help to deliver
“CEOs are looking to reconfi gure their companies to make the most of market opportunities”
“Companies have seen most value and opportunity in digitalisation and are prioritising upskilling”
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COVER STORY
By Riaz Naqvi
As the pandemic has forced investors to reassess their priorities, Lombard Odier’s Arnaud Leclercq and Christopher Kaminker explore how sustainability trends are accelerating in the region and worldwide
SUSTAINABILITY 2021
A VITAL SHIFT IN THE MIDDLE EAST
I T H T H E C O R O N A V I R U S
pandemic dominating headlines over the past year from a public health and
economic standpoint, it may feel as if another, slower-burning but larger crisis has taken a backseat from a media perspective: climate change.
In January, Blair Sheppard, PwC’s global leader for strategy and leadership, told Arabian Business that, because of wildfires in South East Asia, Australia, California and Brazil, the world will have
lost much of its “lungs” within a decade. “If we do not solve this problem in the next 10 years, it will be virtually impos-sible to solve.”
While sustainability has long been a watchword for high-net-worth investors, the events of 2020 have accelerated pre-existing trends, says Arnaud Leclercq, Partner Holding Privé and Head of New Markets at Swiss private bank Lombard Odier. “The pandemic has been a crisis moment that has led investors globally to rethink how they deploy their capital.”
W
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26 Vol. 22/04, April 2021
product offering. “Today, there are more than a dozen disclosure frameworks and regulatory standards related to climate risks. Market, regulatory, consumer and investor forces are creating
He also highlights techno-logical innovation and fall-ing costs for satellite imagery helping financial services companies better monitor and integrate these risks in their decision-making and
u Swiss private bank Lombard Odier has always taken its responsibility to make a positive contribution to society and the environment seriously
$358bnLombard Odier’s client assets in 2020 – a rise of 6 percent compared to 2019
He adds that there has been an evolution in investor mind-sets, with a belief that sustain-able investing will be crucial to unlock future returns.
“Investor demand is shift-ing – from backward-looking, metrics-based environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria on business practices, towards a more sophisticated forward-looking approach that covers the full sustain-ability of business models.”
This isn’t only an issue for investors, he says, but a prerequisite for every company and sector, trans-forming the operation of entire industries.
Christopher Kaminker, Head of Sustainable Invest-ment Research, Strategy and Stewardship at Lombard Odier, explains that the emerging circular, lean, inclusive and clean (CLICTM) economic model (see info-graphic) represents a $5.5-tril-lion opportunity per year. “It is our duty, on behalf of our clients, to find ways to tap into this massive invest-ment opportunity. We believe sustainable investing is the only way to generate solid long-term returns.”
Forward-looking perspectivesWith a huge cost attached to climate-related natural disasters – Leclercq says Hurricane Katrina alone cost close to $180bn and last year’s Australian bush fires more than $60bn – regulators want better disclosure of risks, while consumers and inves-tors are demanding better protection.
“There is rising demand for conventional forms of insur-ance, as well as new products such as weather derivatives, catastrophe bonds and new assets such as green build-ings,” explains Leclercq.
COVER STORY / LO M BA R D O D I E R
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ner Patrick Odier was recently a keynote speaker – is a glob-ally renowned event.
“The Middle East’s chal-lenges fit well with some of the areas where we see significant growth oppor-tunities: sustainable mobil-ity, buildings, energy supply and agriculture; smart food chains and the preservation of natural capital; resource efficiency; and the shift to a sharing economy.”
Leclercq says the integra-tion of Shariah-compliant sustainable investing is still in its early stages in the region. Still, there are promising moves being made by the likes of Saudi Arabia’s Sedco Capi-tal, which Lombard Odier has
a powerful feedback loop that is driving demand for sustainable solutions.”
It ’s a vast investment opportunity – PwC esti-mates investments of around $440bn a year are needed just to protect nature alone.
“Current investment levels are just one eighth of that total,” he adds.
A regional agendaFor the Arab world, where Islamic investments are already well established, socially-responsible and sustainable opportunities are a natural fit, believes Leclercq.
“Sustainability has climbed to the top of policy agen-das in the region – driven by rising populations, growing consumption and swift devel-opment, an arid climate, a lack of water and arable land and a need to shift economies away from oil dependence.
“ B y l o o k i n g t o w a r d s sustainable financing, the GCC can seek to become a global hub for new technolo-gies focussed on the green economy and enhance the region’s competitiveness, to support long-term economic growth, whilst simultaneously protecting the environment.”
He points to Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, which includes plans to generate 58.7 giga-watts of energy from renew-able sources – partly through building the region’s largest wind farm – as an example of GCC policymakers’ focus on sustainability.
The UAE’s Vision 2021, meanwhile, aims to build up a sustainable infrastructure and environment. Expo 2020 Dubai’s core theme is sustain-ability, while Masdar City aims to be one of the world’s most low-carbon developments, and Abu Dhabi Sustainabil-ity Week – where Lombard Odier Senior Managing Part-
u Fires in Australia in 2020 devastated the country
u The damage caused by Hurricane Katrina reached close to $180bn
Eight key sustainability challenges – the move to CLICTM
Zero - wasteEmbracing re-use, repair and recycling
DematerialisationMoving to a service-based economy
Fair societyEnsuring a just transition
Zero emissionsAchieving the Paris Agreement
Regenerative natureLiving within nature’s boundaries
Resource effi ciencyAchieving more with less
Secure societyNavigating social and political turmoil
Adaptive and resilientAdjusting to environmental change
Circular Lean Inclusive Clean
u Reversing climate change will need investment in renewable energy sources
worked with for many years, and which is ahead of the curve in this regard.
“Sedco Capital pioneered a proprietary approach it calls Prudent Ethical Invest-ment (PEI), which integrates Shariah-compliant and responsible investment prin-ciples. PEI combines tradi-tional Shariah exclusions and balance sheet screening with assessment of ESG criteria. It is an approach that is gaining traction among investors, and which delivers distinct risk/return dynamics.
“At the same time, new investment benchmarks are appearing, to inform and educate investors on Shariah-compliant and sustainable opportunities,” Leclercq says.
These include the launch of the S&P/Hawkamah UAE ESG Index in April 2020, which measures the performance of the top 20 stocks in the UAE based on almost 200 ESG factors.
Sustainable investment innovationThere’s a reason Lombard Odier is so heavily invested in the green economy. According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), over half of global GDP
28 Vol. 22/04, April 2021
1796The year in which Lombard Odier was founded
“The pandemic has been a crisis moment that has led investors globally to rethink how they deploy their capital”
u Saudi Arabia recently announced a goal of deriving 50 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030
“The Middle East’s challenges fi t well
with some of the areas where we see signifi cant
growth opportunities”
depends on natural capital. “This natural capital is being depleted faster than it can regenerate,” says Kaminker, who says 2021 will be a pivotal year for both nature-related regulations and for the powerful market forces that are allowing companies to harness the power of natural solutions. He points to the UN biodiversity conference taking place in China in May that he believes could create a “Paris Agreement for biodiversity”.
In November 2020, the Prince of Wales inspired the devel-opment of Lombard Odier’s Natural Capital Investment Strategy, which aims to identify profitable companies poised to take advantage of four unstop-pable growth opportunities: the circular bio-economy, resource efficiency, outcome-orientated consumption and zero waste.
“This is a first-of-its-kind solution: a global equity strat-
egy investing in businesses focussed on harnessing and preserving natural capital. This can include firms improv-ing resource efficiency, cutting waste, regenerating forests and oceans, and removing CO2 from the atmosphere.”
For Lombard Odier, sustain-ability isn’t a fad. Geneva’s oldest private bank can trace
its progressive roots back to the 19th Century, when partner Alexandre Lombard was a driving force behind abolishing Sunday labour in Switzerland and urging clients not to invest in companies in the American South that were reliant on slave labour.
Lombard Odier was one of the first institutions to practice socially responsible investing and shareholder activism, having incorpo-rated ESG criteria into its investments since 1997 and signed the UN Principles for Responsible Investment in 2007. In 2019, it also became the first global wealth and asset manager to gain B Corp certification, one of the world’s leading corporate sustainability ratings.
“We have invested heavily in developing our sustain-able investment offering,” says Kaminker. “Our meth-
odology is recognised by the Financial Stability Board’s Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures.”
The bank’s proprietary ESG analysis goes beyond meas-uring business practices to take a holistic view of their entire model.
“Business models, and their alignment with key sustainability challenges, are key drivers of future perfor-mance,” explains Kaminker. “To give you a practical example, the carbon foot-print of a company tells you something about its busi-ness practices, how big a challenge the climate transi-tion may be to that company and how big an impact that company has had on climate change historically.”
While he says this is valu-able information, it offers little on its own from an investment perspective.
COVER STORY / LO M BA R D O D I E R
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$163bnThe UAE’s investment to meet the country’s growing energy demand by 2050
Sustainability and the pandemic
To a greater or lesser extent, governments around the world have been seizing the unprec-edented opportunity to ‘build back better’ in response to the economic damage infl icted by the pandemic.
The climate emergency is like the Covid-19 emergency, just in slow motion and much graver. Both involve market failures, externalities, international cooperation, complex science, questions of system resilience, political leadership and action that hinges on public support.
Decisive state interventions are also required to stabilise the climate, by tipping energy and industrial systems towards newer, cleaner, and ultimately cheaper modes of production that become impossible to outcompete.
The recovery is also an opportunity to address global environmental crises and challenges, including climate change, air and water pollution, biodiversity loss, ocean degradation, and ineffi cient resource use. The crisis has reminded us of the crucial link between the environment and human health, as well as the urgency of tackling environ-mental problems.
The pandemic has also prompted debate on other areas that have, to date, received less attention. Air pollution is an example. World Bank data from 2020 revealed the MENA region has the highest air pollution levels globally after South Asia, and most of its urban popula-tions live with air pollution that surpasses World Health Organisation thresholds for what is considered healthy air by four to fi ve times. Many cities also have issues with managing plastic waste, which have been exacerbated by a high volume of single-use plastic waste stemming from the pandemic.
“We have invested heavily in developing our sustainable investment offering”
“Business models, and their alignment with key sustainability challenges, are key drivers of future performance”
u The crisis has reminded the world of the crucial link between the environment and human health
“Investors want to know what the emissions are going to be in five or ten years’ time and whether that business model will be profitable as the climate transition unfolds.” That is why Kaminker’s team developed the Lombard Odier Portfolio Temperature Alignment (LOPTA) tool – a forward-looking metric that helps investors see how their investment are aligned with the goals of the Paris Agree-ment, to limit global warming to 1.5-2°C.
Why investors care Evidence published in 2020 shows sustainable invest-ment strategies in a positive light when it comes to long-term gains, says Leclercq. “A study of 745 sustainable funds published last year by Morningstar concluded that the majority of these strategies had outperformed conven-tional funds over one, three, five and ten years.”
He points to a material rise in client demand for sustain-able solutions over the past year. “This is being reflected in investment issuance, including in the Middle East – with a strong rise in green
and SRI (socially responsible investing) sukuk issuance seen particularly in the UAE in 2019 and 2020.”
From Lombard Odier’s point of view, clients want to integrate sustainability into their portfolios differently.
“We offer portfolios that s imply exclude certain sectors or sub-sectors, those that integrate our proprietary sustainability analysis and portfolios where sustainabil-ity is the core source of alpha, or outperformance.”
The bank offers personal-ised sustainability portfolios built according to individual client specifications, which may include dedicated biodi-versity or climate transition solutions, for example.
“In short, our fiduciary duty is to invest sustainably, in order to generate the best returns for our clients.”
u Lombard Odier is heavily invested in the green economy
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AB/Moneyarabianbusiness.com/money
ow has the pandemic affected your operation and client demands?The pandemic changed
our vision regarding working from the office to working from home. We faced a couple of initial challenges as the
operations team feared the concept of working from home. However, with the resources we had and minimal time to adapt we achieved our goals and even succeeded. Our client services team was performing almost more than 12 hours a day due to the lockdown to provide all
the necessary services our clients needed. This reflected positively on our company numbers and client base, as our services were carried online. Through Zoom, online workshops and other means, our operations team worked hard to provide clients a smooth transition towards
Talal Al Ajmi, founder and CEO of Kuwait-based online trading platform VI Markets, discusses GCC investment trends, the pandemic’s impact on various stocks and the big winners of 2021
Today’s Gulf investor has a better understanding of the market
u Talal Al Ajmi is also a board member at online broker One Financial Markets, which was established in London in 2007
H
arabianbusiness.com 31
/ M O N EY
q OUR CLIENT SERVICES TEAM WAS PERFORMING ALMOST MORE THAN 12 HOURS A DAY DUE TO THE LOCKDOWN TO
PROVIDE ALL THE NECESSARY SERVICES OUR CLIENTS NEEDED”
lTo read more AB/Money online, scan the QR code with your phone camera and follow the link.
operating and providing all our services online to satisfy their demands. I believe this also strengthened our customer loyalty and increased our base.
What investment trends have you noticed emerging over the past year?We noted rising interest towards investments in sectors that showed potential gains in the future, primarily in technology companies. We also saw a great shift towards trading in sectors that showed huge opportunities in the oil and energy sectors. Although they had a downturn at the beginning of the pandemic, they rebounded positively.
Alongside that, many investors concentrated in areas that represented a great chance, especially in tourism, aviation and gold. Of course, the stimulus plan that was passed by the US government impacted the market positively and allowed many people to benefit and gain at that time.
What is Gulf investor sentiment like around forex trading at the moment?I believe that the people who trade in the Gulf by nature tend to trade in stock markets as they favour it along with forex because I have seen that many investors here tend to be risktakers due to two reasons: a lack of awareness of the markets and lack of education. Therefore, educating investors through investment methods, training courses and workshops was and is still my main goal at the company. Due to that, today’s Gulf investor is more aware of the market and has a better understanding of the way they should manage their capital. I believe the pandemic has also changed the way Gulf investors tend to trade in many areas.
As vaccinations roll out, are your clients more bullish or bearish when it comes to gold, currencies and oil investments?Vaccines have contributed a lot to the change in the trading activity. This included a great shift towards buying stocks in airline and energy companies, hoping that the pandemic will come to end with the rollout of the vaccines. Meanwhile, at the same time, people who saw this coming are now enjoying the gains from rising oil prices and making
huge profits. Nevertheless, usually investors at the time of stimulus packages or even after vaccination moving towards the end of the crisis, tend to shift and invest in high-risk assets such as stocks while moving away from gold.
What factors are encouraging your clients to adopt a more patient, long-term approach with their investments?I always advise investors who wish to invest in stocks three things: Buy, hold or sell. I believe that the situation we are all going through made us learn that there are some factors in the market we cannot control – and due to that we always advise our clients to learn the art of management, managing their portfolio in the best manner possible. Particularly when trading in CFDs, they need to understand how to manage the right number of points as well as the optimal time they should enter to buy or sell, depending on the technical analysis frame.
In terms of stocks, we always encour-age our clients or potential investors to understand their nature. We can’t treat stocks like forex – each has its own nature and specifications. Therefore, with buying stocks you have to have a long-term approach and assess the surround-ings. This comes through reinforcing the idea of awareness. Buying a stock is like buying any investment – you can wait for it to increase in price, but it might not happen overnight.
u There is a visible trend that shows investors are moving away from gold and investing in oil
u With Al Ajmi at the helm, VI Markets provide investors a tailored online trading service in Kuwait
2010The year in which online trading platform VI Markets was set up in Kuwait
“We always advise our clients to learn the art of management, managing their portfolio in the best manner possible”
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E S P I T E S C E P T I C I S M I N some quarters surrounding t h e s u s t a i n a b i l i t y o f s o - c a l l e d b l a n k - c h e c k
listings, the popularity of special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) shows scant signs of abating – and Middle East companies are helping to fuel the frenzy.
SPACs have become increasingly attractive and are often formed to allow private companies to raise fresh funds to grow and list directly without having to go through the costly and time-consuming initial public offering process.
Last month, Abu Dhabi-based Anghami announced that it will become the first home-grown Middle East tech company to list on the New York stock exchange after merging with SPAC Vistas Media Acquisition Company in one of the biggest investments into a Middle Eastern technology start-up in recent years – the deal values the music streaming service at $220m.
Co-founder Elie Habib told Arabian Business: “Clearly with Vistas, with the
SPAC idea, it came to fruition and it just makes sense to us that we are ready right now to do this and we are ready to grow in a way that is sustainable, but at the same time public, without requiring us to simply sell out the company and move on.”
While in February, US-based Wheels Up announced a merger with Aspirational Consumer Lifestyle Corp, a SPAC headed by Ravi Thakran, former group chairman of LVMH South and Southeast Asia, Australia and Middle East.
Plans are in place to launch Wheels Up on the New York Stock Exchange in the second quarter of this year with a valuation of $2.1bn.
At the time, Thakran told Arabian Business: “We as a SPAC had a clear idea that we wanted to only go after aspirat ional consumer l i festyle businesses. We wanted ideally an American or European business that has not captured Asia very well as yet.
“We believe there are 10,000 companies globally, the majority of which are in America, which can be public, which should be public.”
In the first two months of 2021, 175 SPACs sold initial public offerings, or roughly five deals per trading day, according to data compiled by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. In February alone, 90 SPACs raised $32bn, a monthly record.
Rohit Nanani, CEO and founder of Arrow Capital, told Arabian Business: “We see a significant growth opportunity for SPACs in the Middle East. In the region, more and more high-growth companies are coming to market seeking much-needed growth capital to fund scale – and SPACs offer a fast, more efficient route to do that.
“Similarly, demand for diversification is greater than ever amongst Gulf investors, and SPACs provide a valuable vehicle to open access to more diversified investment opportunities, increasing exposure to high performing technology investments coming out of global markets in the US, India and South East Asia.”
The popularity of SPACs surged as executives, athletes, private-equity giants and venture capital firms alike rushed to raise money for yet-to-be identified future investments, tapping appetite for early-stage companies.
Target companies are often start-up technology firms developing automotive or space technologies, sustainable energy, or order businesses in private equity portfolios.
The largest SPAC to date is the $4bn raised last year by hedge fund Pershing Square Capital’s founder Bill Ackman. While, Chamath Palihapitiya, the venture capitalist, used a SPAC in 2017 to take a 49 percent stage in Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, and was reported earlier this year to have created another seven special purpose corporations.
The popularity of so-called blank-cheque companies has surged as executives, athletes, private-equity giants and venture capital fi rms alike rushed to raise money for yet-to-be identifi ed future investments, tapping appetite for early-stage companies
SPACs are here to stay
u (From left) Elie Habib, co-founder of Anghami and Rohit Nanani, CEO and founder of Arrow Capital
$220mThe valuation of Abu Dhabi-based media company Anghami
“SPACs provide a valuable vehicle to open access to more diversifi ed investment opportunities”
D
BY GAVIN GIBBON
arabianbusiness.com 33
CryptocurrenciesDominic Frisby, author of Bitcoin: The Future of Money?
Everyone has heard of Bitcoin. So much so that the two words, Bitcoin and cryp-tocurrency, like Hoover and vacuum cleaner, are virtually synonymous. And yet, when I last looked, there were some 8,587 other cryptocurrencies. There may be a finite supply of Bitcoin, but there is no such finite supply of alternatives.
There are only some 180 national curren-cies in the world, and in contrast, there are more than 8,500 cryptocurrencies that exist. That number alone is evidence of the extent and speed at which this space is expanding.
So what are these other cryptocur-rencies – or altcoins, as they are known? Are any of them any good? Should we be investing in them?
At the moment on my computer I have WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, Facebook messenger, iMessage, various email
Amid the challenging environment, there are still opportunities to be made in sectors such as alternative assets, real estate and wealth management. We take a look at how investors could create strategic investments in both international and regional markets to grow their wealth
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Expert investment insights
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addresses, Skype and among various other messaging platforms. Different people seem to communicate with me via different media, and often I forget who sends messages to which outlet. Check-ing my messages seems to take longer and longer each day.
Something similar is going to happen with money. And that trend has already started. I personally own between 10 and 20 different cryptocurrencies. Keeping track of them all is taking up more time than I would like. But the day is not far away when we will hold as many wallets as we do messaging apps; perhaps we’ll hold more.
Bitcoin is still by far the top dog. It is the gateway into crypto, the first crypto that most people buy. It has the network. It has the recognition. It currently has 60-70 percent of the market share. Ethereum is the next biggest coin, with 15 percent of the market. If you simply want exposure to the cryptocurrency sphere, buy Bitcoin and walk away.
Handling your crypto assets Bitcoin is the standard, performing the same role in the crypto economy as gold did in the global money system of the 19th Century. There may be altcoins that are superior in design, but do not under-estimate the power of Bitcoin’s network effect. It is by far the strongest. There are some hardcore Bitcoin maximalists who argue that you shouldn’t own any other coin. I recommend keeping the major-ity of your crypto portfolio in Bitcoin, while allocating some speculative funds to others.
Generally speaking, Bitcoin tends to outperform other altcoins – it is a better store of value – during bear markets, or “crypto winters.” But during the sporadic periods of speculative mania, “altcoin season” to use the jargon, such as we have seen over the last three months, altcoins outperform, sometimes quite dramatically. Bitcoin’s market domi-nance is currently 62 percent.
It’s hard not to feel like a kid in a sweet shop looking at all the different altcoins. There are so many, all with different uses, functions and purposes. You might find yourself wanting to own a lot of them, but when delving into crypto waters, keep your discipline, and avoid the scams.
u Wealthy individuals are looking to invest in real estate in 2021, according to industry experts
“We are beginning to see signs of a recovery in price performance in some prime sub-markets”
Nearly a third of Middle East-based ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs) are planning to buy a new home in 2021, according to Knight Frank.
Such demand from Middle Eastern UHNWIs, those worth $30m or more, stretches across the world, with the UK, US, Turkey, Spain and the UAE being the
top five locations where such purchases are planned, its Wealth Report 2021 showed. In the GCC region, weaker economic conditions and historic supply gluts in parts have underpinned prices falls in Doha (-6 percent), Dubai (-5.9 percent) and Riyadh (-3.3 percent) while Abu Dhabi’s prime market saw prices remain stable over this period.
Taimur Khan, head of research at Knight Frank Middle East, said: “Despite prime prices softening in almost all key markets, demand for prime residential property has remained robust throughout 2020. There are also early indications that we are seeing these markets begin to enter new market cycles.
“For example, while Dubai’s prime residential market saw prices decrease by 5.9 percent in the year to November 2020, we are beginning to see signs of a recovery in price performance in some prime sub-markets.”
He added that in the six months to December, apartment and villa prices on the Palm Jumeirah increased by 5.1 percent and 9.4 percent respectively, while, over the same period, villa prices in District One increased by 3.5 percent.
Real estateTaimur Khan, head of research at Knight Frank Middle East
arabianbusiness.com 35
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$3.8bnThe value of real estate investments in Dubai in the fi rst two months of 2021, according to the Land Department
u Leading fi nancial services companies have announced plans to grow their wealth management businesses in the Middle East
Wealth management Faheem Aziz, CEO of private wealth manager Safa Capital
With the UAE boasting total private wealth of $870bn and attracting over 35,000 high net worth individu-als (HNWIs) since the turn of the century, according to a new report by New World Wealth, the country is fast becoming a global wealth manage-ment hub.
In recent weeks, this development has been evident. Leading financial services companies, namely Citigroup and HSBC, have spotted the opportu-nity announcing plans to grow their wealth management businesses in the Middle East.
However, while large global private banks will focus on onboarding clients with a net worth of at least $3m, the real opportunity for the UAE’s local financial institutions is with the mass-affluent or emerging high-net-worth clients.
This is the market segment which holds the most potential and can help transform the UAE into the Switzerland of the Middle East for wealth management.
The technological opportunityThe mass affluent and emerging HNWIs are benefitting from the rapid develop-ment of technology-driven innovation. While terms like robo-advisory were esoteric, nebulous concepts just a few years back, now they are mainstream
offerings in more developed markets. All this has been aided by tremendous strides in technology and AI, which have been accelerated by Covid-19.
Increasing numbers of investors have begun using fintech and robo-advisors to meet their investment goals, thus lend-ing support to our hypothesis of future technology-led disruption in the wealth management arena.
This is where the UAE, with its avowed strategy of leading growth through tech-nology, will enable its leading financial institutions to up their game and compete with the big boys.
We believe digitised wealth manage-ment services are set to take off substan-tially in the UAE. And, it is imperative that local banks take the front seat and lead this drive, not wait passively for the rest of the world to lead.
Need for local banks to realise the UAE’s wealth management potentialWhile good progress is being made, to grow as a true wealth management hub, the UAE needs to make changes.
More government support, a commit-ment to improving regulations, bespoke product offerings and local banks’ upping the ante on wealth management, are all needed to help the UAE achieve the global wealth management status of which it is capable.
Local banks particularly need to continue building their internal capa-bilities, hiring top talent and expanding their bespoke investment offerings to rival international players.
“Other prime markets such as Down-town Dubai and Emirates Hills are also showing similar signs of improvement in market performance. More so, in contrast to the mainstream market, prime transac-tion volumes increased by 7.9 percent in 2020 compared to 2019,” said Khan.
According to Knight Frank’s Wealth Report 2021, 26 percent of UHNWIs glob-ally are planning to buy a new home in 2021, a sharp increase from the 21 percent revealed in 2020. This demand will help fuel price rises of up to 7 percent in key markets over the course of the year.
Liam Bailey, global head of research at Knight Frank said: “The Wealth Report confirms a clear rise in demand for resi-dential property... Demand is especially strong for rural and coastal properties, with access to open space being the most highly desired feature.”
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Investing for the region’s millennials? Baraka has the answer
DESPITE THE RISING interest in investing among millennials globally, the Middle East’s youth population doesn’t have trading platforms that cater to them or present financial news in a relatable
manner, according to the founder and CEO of fintech start-up baraka.
Feras Jalbout identified this gap in the market and last July came up with ‘akhbaraka’ by baraka, a finance-themed newsletter
that offered “digestible and bite-sized” insights and financial market news to its subscribers to increase investor knowledge among the region’s millennials.
Jalbout says his intention from the start was to create a commission-free mobile-only trading platform and on March 9 he took a step towards that by announcing the launch of baraka’s waitlist and free stock giveaway. The app is expected to officially launch in the second quarter of 2021.
The announcement came in following the company’s pre-seed capital raise of $1m
in a funding round which was led by Class 5 Global, with participation from FJ Labs, IMO Ventures, The Community Fund, VentureSouq and private investment from Dr Abdulla Elyas, co-founder of Careem.
In a wide-ranging interview with Arabian Business, Jalbout shares his thoughts on why the region’s millennials don’t invest as much as their global counterparts and how to make them more comfortable with putting their money in investments.
What was the market gap you identified when you came up with baraka?We really want to serve this demographic of millennials well and I think that in this region, it’s not addressed properly.
I’ve always found that there’s a gap in the market of what’s out there and what that demographic wants to know.
There’s also a gap in the product offering in the region and the way investment platforms communicate with millennials and the look and feel of their platforms. So we set out to build that, essentially.
We’re in a region where 70 percent of the population is under the age of 30 and I don’t think we have a product for these people and so that’s the gap that we’re trying to fill.
In this part of the world, millennials don’t necessarily seem to be investing quite heavily or to have that on top of mind but if you look at what is happening globally, there’s massive interest from millennials investing in different platforms. So I think, it’s about time that we get up to speed here.
Feras Jalbout
Arabian Business shines a light on the all-important SME sector in the region, from success stories and VC news to expert insights
After raising $1m in pre-seed capital, fi ntech start-up baraka launches mobile-only trading platform
BY NABILA RAHAL
arabianbusiness.com 37
What are the investment trends that you have observed among millennials?They want to invest in companies that they like and that they want to back causes that they’re interested in.
I think people want to have a little bit more control over the kinds of companies and the kinds of causes that they want to put their money behind.
Moving away from equities, I think there’s a whole other world that’s forming there. Kids in the US or all over the world are investing in shoes, Bitcoins or any kind of cryptocurrency. They’re investing in NFTs, a form of cryptocurrency, which is a whole other space.
All of this potentially leads to the de-centralisation of all kinds of assets, which means they can be fragmented and sold in little bits. So I think the next 10 years is going to be incredibly interesting for retail investing.
What is your business model?We’ll be the first app to offer US commission-free stock trading so that means that we’re not going to charge $5 or $10 a trade like the other platforms.
There’s a free tier for people to just invest and get started and there is a paid tier where you get more services like world-class research and analytics.
We hope that enough people upgrade to subsidise the other people eventually, but then the idea is that we want to build a platform so we want to build other products. This is our first product, essentially, but the aim is to kind of build on a suite of products that suit different people.
What are some of your long-term plans or aspirations for baraka?It’ll always be around retail investing and interesting asset classes that probably are underserved in our market.
It’ll always be about democratising asset classes and along the lines of what we see as interesting emerging asset classes for retail investors, such as the ones I outlined before.
What are the challenges for investing in the region?When we started this project, we did a lot of user interviews and we got two bits of feedback from around 75 to 80 percent of the people that we surveyed.
One was that they want more content such as market news and analysis to guide them through making the step to investing so we are trying to build content around that.
On our social media channels, we try to address the audience in a tone of voice
that is easy to understand with enough information for them to be able to figure it out. We are trying to marry news, market insights and investment products in one.
The other thing we try to do is address this gap through more educational content which is, to my surprise, basic stuff that people want to know such as what a stock or an ETF is.
This is why we have a glossary of financial terms on the website and we’ve built an educational module in the app where users can read about a topic, get quizzed about and rewarded with virtual points just for taking part.
People tend to invest in communities and what we’re trying to do is create that community. A big part of our proposition is that we want to create a space where people can go online, ask questions in the public forum, and eventually get to know different members of the community and ask those questions.
Everyone should be investing but the question is, how to get people more comfortable with that? Our challenge is to get people over this line or hurdle because
once they start investing, they will see the value in that and continue to invest.
What is your competitive edge?The look and feel of the platform, the content element, the educational side, eventually the different product-range and the business model are all unique.
Ultimately, we focus on the user experience and making things as seamless and simple as possible.
What was the experience of launching the website during the pandemic like?I guess it’s become second nature to us.
Everything we’ve done, from hiring and managing the team to raising money, has been done during the pandemic. We always joke that we don’t know what it would be like to be in person together and that we live on Zoom.
What advice would you give to first-time investors and young entrepreneurs looking to set up their own business?For the investors, as simple as it may sound, just get started even if it is only $5.
Starting with a small number that you can stand to lose will help you overcome that hurdle because at the end of the day, if you do something wrong, you will only lose that small amount. But the idea is that you would have crossed one threshold and you can keep progressing.
My advice to entrepreneurs is to be incredibly passionate about what you’re doing because you will need that passion to drive you through the highs and lows of starting your own business.
q WE ARE TRYING TO MARRY NEWS, MARKET INSIGHTS AND INVESTMENT PRODUCTS IN ONE”
u Baraka will be the fi rst app to offer US commission-free stock trading
4,000+The number of US-listed companies baraka aims to provide in its platform
Liquid assets
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my lungs. As I breathe out slowly my attention fixates on the bright whitewashed walls, punctuated with wooden balconies and capped with Santorini blue rooves, lush green gardens rolling up to the path by the water’s edge.
The Park Hyatt Dubai is a resort that steps back from busy opulence, mirrored marble and pouting influence, and that instead effortlessly embraces an easy-going elegance.
Nestled alongside Dubai Creek, the stretch of water seemingly creates a different time zone, one where the
S THE WIND PLAYS over the water, the sleek yachts in their
moorings creak gently as if answering the cries of white gulls on the wing, which circle above this haven.
The slow sway on the water is mirrored by the pinks, magentas, purples, reds and orange of the bougainvillea which dance in the breeze as they trail down from the carved wooden pergola framing the maritime scene ahead.
From my terrace, I gaze out beyond the masts to the spires of Dubai which reach into
the sky, seemingly another country away, the Burj Khalifa — the Everest of this metropolitan mountain range just visible in the distance.
The sound of a ship’s bell floats across the marina as a gentle swell sends light dancing across the surface and I breathe it all in, the air laced with a deep sense of peace which I take deep into
seconds slow, the tick and the tock shout less, and the energetic emirate is held at arm’s length, viewed through a soft lens for the duration of your stay. This doesn’t feel like a staycation, this feels like a genuine escape.
Service par excellenceNothing is overdone here, no one is running around in a panic as the staff know their roles with confidence and play them to perfection, a benefit of experience. Speak with them and they’ll tell you how the hotel stood by them during the pandemic,
REVIEW
A Mediterranean escape at Park Hyatt DubaiBright whitewashed walls, wooden balconies, Santorini blue rooves and lush green gardens rolling up to the path by the water’s edge provide the ideal haven to stop the clock
u Park Hyatt Dubai provides an idyllic setting for a luxury getaway in the heart of the bustling city
16The number of dining venues to choose from at the Park Hyatt Dubai
A
BY SCOTT ARMSTRONG
ArabianBusiness.com 39
their loyalty and obvious competence instils the guest with confidence from the minute you walk through the doors. This is a place where it is easy to let go, to not need to control each moment, to genuinely relax.
Rooms reflect the easy-going ethos that seems painted on the white walls of this resort. Our Park Terrace Suite was a simple, spacious affair. The lounge, bedroom and bathroom making up 105 sq m of space to breathe. Two terraces looking out to the water, plus a third window out to the gardens, increase the sense of space and light. The freestanding bath is there should a long soak be needed, but the monsoon walk-in shower is as invigorating as they come.
Breathtaking viewsThis a hotel where strolling comes natural, with the creek-side path winding its way along the waterfront of the Park Hyatt Dubai. Turn right from your room and you skirt the marina, past more yachts, until you arrive at the Boardwalk. This three-floor structure houses a number of options, but the deck of Boardwalk is a must. Sitting here feels as if you are aboard a cruise liner about to set sail, there is a sense of Mediterranean maritime adventure about the venue and the menu.
Trusting our excellent crew member Billy, we went with his recommendation, the oven-baked Salt-Crusted Sea Bass. It’s brought to the table still encrusted in the salt it’s cooked in and broken apart before you, a touch of theatre before the real show, which is the flavour and the texture of this delicious fish dish.
Sea Bass was another highlight of the relaxed buffet
offering at the Thai Kitchen, a new event that features a tasting menu prepared by chefs native to the tropical nation, washed down with something cold and bubbly should you wish. Again, it’s all so effortlessly delicious and relaxed, especially with your five-year-old enjoying the Cave Kids Club, this becomes a place where parents can become couples again.
That facility for my daughter proved a hidden gem, with activities and attractions and sat next to one of the resort’s three pools, this one child-friendly. And while the wonderful
Jenna and Annalyn look after your little one, you can also indulge in a little adult time at the Lagoon, the Creekside swimming pool for grown-ups only, or enjoy the sunset drink by the marina at the excellent Noepe Japanese-fusion restaurant.
There is so much to enjoy at the Park Hyatt — including the golf course which I didn’t get to — and its excellent Lakeview restaurant, which offers a great full English breakfast.
A single night at Park Hyatt Dubai isn’t enough, and yet 24 hours really does feel like a holiday.
u Guests are treated with a stunning outdoor terrace, overlooking the Dubai Creek
223The number of rooms including 34 suites at the Park Hyatt Dubai
Q THE PARK HYATT DUBAI IS A RESORT THAT STEPS BACK FROM BUSY OPULENCE, MIRRORED MARBLE AND POUTING INFLUENCE, AND THAT
INSTEAD EFFORTLESSLY EMBRACES AN EASY-GOING ELEGANCE”
/ H OT E L R EV I EW
q NOTHING IS OVERDONE HERE, NO ONE IS RUNNING AROUND IN A PANIC AS THE STAFF KNOW THEIR ROLES WITH CONFIDENCE AND PLAY THEM TO PERFECTION”
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individual cooling or heating for neck and shoulders – can be tilted forwards or backwards, and are perfectly adjustable to suit a range of needs, from managerial Zoom calls to a nap on your journey.
Innovative tech On a technological front, the optional MBUX Interior Assist in the back tracks your body’s movement to direct the cabin’s adaptive rear lights to where you want it, thanks to 3D lasers built into the roof liner. The ambient lighting also has presets according
XQUISITE FINISHING, innovative safety features
and ultra-extravagant comfort — nothing matches a Maybach. With its distinctive bonnet and radiator grille, V12 engine, cutting-edge safety and comfort systems and extraordinary backseat passenger experience, the Mercedes-Maybach S-Class does more than take you from point A to point B; it’s a space built for optimal rest, entertainment and productivity.
Whether you’re judging by aesthetics, comfort or convenience, the Maybach’s rear passenger experience is unlike any other.
Depending on whether you’ve opted for the Executive or Chauffeur package, the hand-stitched backseats – which include a massage-functional calf rest and
to your mood, all of which can be adjusted on high-res touchscreen OLED displays.
Thanks to the new active road noise compensation, unwanted low-frequency sounds from the outside world are reduced by counter-phased sound waves. Instead, you can enjoy high-fidelity audio through the bass speakers of a Burmester 4D surround sound system.
The Mercedes-Maybach S-Class will go into production in June, for optimal rest, entertainment and productivity.
Ultimate luxury: A backseat perspectiveWith its unrivalled technology and comfort features, the new Mercedes-Maybach S-Class offers a rear passenger experience like no other
u The Mercedes-Maybach S-Class can be enhanced, on request, by a two-tone hand-painted fi nish
30The number of Burmester 4D speakers inside the new Mercedes-Maybach S-Class
E
BY RIAZ NAQVI
LIQUID ASSETS
arabianbusiness.com 41
BRAND VIEW
What luxury travel destinations have done well over the past six months? There are several. After the Maldives reopened its borders on July 15, in February, its tourism ministry observed record-break-ing numbers with 96,881 arrivals. We have partnered with Visit Maldives to promote the destina-tion to our strong portfolio and reach in MENA.
Similarly, the Seychelles and Tahiti let travellers enjoy overwa-ter villas and aquatic activities on naturally distanced islands that follow stringent safety measures.Thailand has been on the radar for many travellers, thanks to its success at keeping infections under control and recent arrivals quarantine reduction to ten days.
Costa Rica has done an admi-rable job of keeping the pandemic under control while remaining open to tourists. I know more than a few tech professionals who moved to CR to work remotely early in the pandemic – they rave about the destination, which is enhancing its luxury travel offer-ing through high-touch eco lodges. Let’s not forget Dubai, which has remained open through most of the pandemic with an aggressive testing regime, strict social distancing measures and a speedy vaccination rollout. Travellers should plan well ahead, keeping an eye on rule changes for their destination, airline and home country. The Wego app has a News tab where we try to keep users fully informed of the latest updates.
In January, you said the region would be ready to travel again this year – what do you see happening over the next quarter?Wego user surveys and the immediate jump in bookings every time a travel restriction is rolled back and a new destination reopens suggests
THE 2021 TRAVEL PICTURE
Ross Veitch, CEO and co-founder of Wego, looks at how luxury destinations and travellers are faring
BY RIAZ NAQVI
people are ready to travel again. Travel demand from MENA
markets in Q1 2021 is at about 30 percent of 2019 levels, up from about 25 percent in Q4 2020. There’s a long way to go, but we’re trending in the right direction.
I think governments will open borders for all travel while also relaxing some restrictions at home. Vaccine passports will roll out more broadly in Q2. Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways plan to adopt the IATA Travel Pass, which digitally stores your vaccination status and test results. The Saudi aviation regulator (GACA) has said the country will reopen for international travel on May 17. I suspect Kuwait and Bahrain will follow a similar schedule.
Our baseline prediction for the MENA travel industry still has it recovering to close to 2019 levels by the end of 2021, but Q1 recov-ery has been a little slower than initially anticipated.
How has the pandemic changed luxury travel expectations?There are a lot of people who haven’t had a proper vacation for over a year, myself included,
resulting in a lot of pent-up demand for leisure travel. If you’re making up for lost time, you’re more likely to spare no expense. We’re seeing this phenomena, dubbed ‘revenge travel’, in our booking data. Many who remained employed through the pandemic have seen average savings increase signifi cantly because of the amount of time spent at home, and we expect many households have earmarked this cash for vacations. International travellers are opting for trusted brands, more luxurious accommodation and longer stays – they want to make the most of their trip, given the friction created by the extra safety proce-dures. We’ve seen a signifi cant uptick in Wego users booking stays of 30-plus days, often in luxury hotels or villas.
Leisure destinations search volume growth in Q1 2021, according to Wego
u Seychelles: 62 percent increaseu Thailand: 45 percent increase u Maldives: 40 percent increase u The UK: 30 percent increaseu Norway: 29 percent increase
u Spain 19 percent increase
u Ross Veitch, CEO and co-founder of Wego
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Buying property in DubaiSaleh Ahmed Alobeidli, partner at International Consultant Law Offi ce (ICLO),
highlights elements buyers should be aware of when investing in property in Dubai
Corporate structures
Special interests
Real estate fi nancing
Outstanding liabilities
Power of Attorney (POA)
No party may act on or on behalf of another party without being the legal
authorised signatory with powers delegated to them in a POA. An international POA needs to be notarised
and attested by the UAE consulate in the country of origin and the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs then legally translated in the UAE.
If the property being sold is owned by a company or if the buyer is a company,
there may be a holding structure involved, often in multiple jurisdictions
such as Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZA) or BVI, which
would require all relevant, original, and updated
company documents to be attested and translated.
Reselling property which is bought under the name of a buyer’s child, or under a company where the child is a shareholder, requires special permission from
the Dubai Court. The same applies for the will
of a deceased person where a Grant of Probate
is required from Dubai Personal Status Court.
Most sales agreements have a no-fault release
clause so buyers who don’t obtain the mortgage will be released from the contract
with no fault or liability given to them. This also applies when the buyer
doesn’t submit the funds required to complete the
mortgage application on time.
When sellers have an outstanding liability due
to the developer or a bank, they will require the buyer to pay it off and clear any outstanding sums owed
on their behalf. To protect buyers’ funds, specifi c securities can be
placed on the property before the Dubai
Land Department.
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