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12
December

File photo. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett holds a Cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, Israel, on Dec 5, 2021. (Photo: Gil Cohen-Magen/Pool via Reuters) - 

 

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett will travel the United Arab Emirates on Sunday (Dec 12) and meet the Gulf state's de facto ruler in the highest-level visit since the countries formalised relations last year.

The trip comes amid heightened regional tension as world powers' try to renew a nuclear deal with Iran. Israel and some Gulf Arabs share concern over Iranian activities in the region.

"I will be going out today to the United Arab Emirates, in the first visit ever by an Israeli prime minister," Bennett told a meeting of his Cabinet on Sunday.

There was no immediate confirmation from Abu Dhabi.

The UAE along with Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco moved toward normal ties with Israel under a US-sponsored initiative dubbed the "Abraham Accords" in reference to the biblical patriarch revered by Jews, Christians and Muslims.

Bennett's trip on Sunday would be the first by an Israeli premier to any of those four countries.

He will meet Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan on Monday, Bennett's office said.

The two leaders will discuss deepening ties, with an emphasis on economic issues that will contribute to prosperity, welfare and strengthening stability between the countries, the Israeli statement added//CNA

12
December

A general view of the Burj Khalifa and the downtown skyline in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on Jun 12, 2021. (Photo: REUTERS/Christopher Pike) - 

 

Being raised in the Middle East with a lack of savings and investment culture, many young Arabs are turning to online banking services to help track their spending and budget.

When Mayar Akrameh was growing up in Lebanon, financial advice was simple: work long, work hard and aim for a high-paying job.

Now the 29-year-old management consultant is one of a growing number of young Arabs who are turning to financial technology, or "fintech", to help them save and invest, often a neglected practice in the Middle East.

"We're taught that if you're working and making enough money, even if you hate your job, you're good," she told AFP. "Or they think we're good."

Akrameh moved to the United Arab Emirates in 2019 at the start of Lebanon's financial crisis, which would later see the local currency plunge to all-time lows, with many people denied free access to their savings by stringent banking controls.

The region's economic instability, exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, has spurred many to turn to online banking and financial tools.

Akrameh, who did not know how to invest and save money when she started generating income, now uses an app to track her spending.

"It's not just about retiring; it's about living better, having dreams, having time to breathe and reflect," she said.

S&P Global said in a 2019 report that indicators showed Gulf Arab countries appeared the most ready for fintech adoption, with the key driver being demand and a preference by clients for digital banking.

The fintech sector across the Middle East is already growing, according to the Milken Institute think tank.

It estimates that 465 companies will raise more than US$2 billion by 2022 compared with the 30 fintech firms that raised around $80 million in 2017.

In addition to having some of the world's youngest populations and highest unemployment rates, many countries in the Middle East and North Africa rank among the lowest for long-term savers and investors.

 

Only seven per cent of adults in the region save for retirement, according to the World Bank's 2016 Saving for Old Age report - the lowest across global economies.

 

"Arabs, we took the really tough path to wealth," said Mark Chahwan, the CEO of Sarwa, a Dubai-based automated financial consultancy firm.

 

"We think our income is what's going to make us rich instead of our capital," he told AFP.

 

Most oil-rich Gulf Arab states, including top crude exporter Saudi Arabia, have long provided their citizens with government-sponsored pensions.

 

But Saudi officials have warned the system is unsustainable, according to Bloomberg, as Riyadh tries to diversify its economy away from oil.

Also, such pensions exclude foreigners, many of whom provide cheap labour and make up a large proportion of the population in many Gulf states.

Chahwan said he has noticed a shift in financial behaviour in the past year, in large part due to the pandemic, which devastated many industries and saw many people lose their jobs.

He said there was an 80 per cent increase in new Sarwa accounts since the first quarter of 2020, with up to 45,000 portfolios of people between the ages of 25 and 45.

Chahwan said the average user was new to the idea of long-term investment, with many Arabs still hesitant about having to wait for benefits later rather than make quick profits.

"We don't have education that revolves around long-term investing," he said, adding that the obstacle remains convincing eager investors of the benefits of delayed gratification.

Another issue is the region's investment landscape, which is mostly limited to so-called high-net-worth individuals, usually defined as people with at least US$1 million in liquid assets.

"If someone wanted to invest US$1,000 or US$10,000, there was not much available," said Haitham Juma, an investment solutions manager at the UAE-based National Bank of Fujairah.

He said smaller-ticket investors need wealth management options with more transparency, accessibility and liquidity that will help build the region's investment market.

"We are still at the early stages of it," said Juma, as local banks and firms seek to create online platforms that educate users and simplify investing.

Making the process easier - or even fun - is key to attracting new investors, as outlined by Lune, a UAE-based finance platform that launched in July.

"It doesn't matter their age, their income or their experience," Alexandre Soued, the app's co-founder, told AFP.

He added that the platform's focus is on the initial steps of managing, saving and then investing, and encouraging them to use simple online tools.

Lune allows its nearly 1,000 users to instantly visualise their spending, swipe to optimise savings, and soon, Soued said, they will be able to compare their savings to others their age.

"People are starting to want to be more independent from younger ages," he told AFP. "And your financial situation is attached to that."//CNA

 

12
December

FILE PHOTO: The Olympic rings are pictured in front of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, December 7, 2021. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse - 

 

The NHL Players' Association is still waiting for information from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Beijing about COVID-19 protocols that will be in place at next year's Winter Olympics, executive director Don Fehr said.

The National Hockey League agreed in September to allow a break in the 2021-22 regular season that would enable the world's top players to take part in the Winter Games.

NHL players missed the last edition of the Olympics in South Korea in 2018 after the league failed to negotiate a similar season break with the International Ice Hockey Federation.

A report in the Toronto Star said the IOC had issued new COVID-19 protocol information to athletes which included a possible quarantine of up to five weeks in the case of a positive test, prompting the NHL to seek clarity.

"We're waiting on an awful lot of information to come from the IOC and the Chinese. We still don't know what the COVID situation will be as we get closer," Fehr told ESPN on Saturday.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said during Friday's Board of Governors meeting in Florida that the players would ultimately decide if they would participate in the Games as concerns had "only been magnified" by COVID-19, according to the NHL website.

"There certainly hasn't been a lot of players that have gone public," Fehr said.

"But it's fair to say that the longer it stretches out where we don't have concrete answers to what happens over there in an unfortunate circumstance, then the more difficult it becomes."

The IOC did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment.

The Beijing Games are scheduled to begin on Feb. 4 while the preliminary round play of the men's ice hockey tournament starts on Feb. 9//CNA

12
December

Swimmers wait at the starting point of the annual harbour swimming race in Hong Kong. (Photo: AFP/Bertha WANG) - 

 

An annual swim across Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour was held on Sunday (Dec 12) for the first time in three years, after being cancelled due to the protests and then the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Habour Race is one of a few major sporting events permitted to resume this year in the financial hub.

However, under the government's strict anti-virus restrictions only half of the usual 3,000 swimmers were allowed to compete, and all were required to have received two vaccinations and tested negative for COVID-19 prior to the event.

 

Double Olympic silver medal-winner Siobhan Haughey was among a number of professional athletes leading cheers for the swimmers when they plunged into the cool seawater as Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam's airhorn blared.

 

Leung Yuen-ying, 79, the oldest swimmer this year, joined the race with her daughter.

 

"My father used to race this so I have a special feeling for it," Leung told reporters.

 

"I hope that one generation after another can continue to have this meaningful event in Hong Kong," she said.

Harbour Race was scrapped last year thanks to the pandemic with the massive demonstrations rocking the city causing its cancellation in 2019.

First held in 1906, it has been suspended for two periods in history -- for five years in the 1940s around the Japanese occupation, and for three decades thanks to pollution before being reinstated in 2011.

The resumption of the race comes as the city reports zero local infections for months as well as maintaining strict quarantine rules for arrivals.

Hong Kong has recorded nearly 12,500 infections and 213 deaths from the coronavirus//CNA