Kuwait pension fund reports record annual performance
PIFSS saw annual return of 16.5 percent through March 31
Fund had $133.7 billion AUM at end of period
Updated 24 June 2021
Arab News
RIYADH: Kuwait’s Public Institution for Social Security (PIFSS) achieved its best annual performance ever with a 16.5 percent rate of return in the year to March 31.
The pension fund ended the fiscal year with $133.7 billion in assets, an increase of 20.9 percent on the year earlier period, it said in a statement on Wednesday. Cash now accounts for 4 percent of its investments, down from about 11.5 percent a year ago.
The performance reflects the fund’s “robust” investment policy and the record performance of capital markets, said Director General Meshal Al-Othman. “The management follows a conservative investment strategy well positioned to absorb and overcome expected fluctuations in international markets in the medium-term,” he said.
PIFSS owns 25 percent of Oak Hill Advisers and 10 percent of TowerBrook Capital Partners LP.
RLC Global Forum helping retail experts exchange knowledge around new tech, industry leaders say
Updated 6 sec ago
Rashid Hassan
RIYADH: New technologies used to improve customer experience and day-to-day operations are driving Saudi Arabia’s retail transformation, industry leaders have told Arab News during a high-profile gathering in Riyadh.
On the sidelines of the RLC Global Forum, key players in the sector spoke to Arab News about how artificial intelligence is playing an increasingly important role as tech-savvy consumers look for integration between the virtual and physical worlds.
They also praised the role of the forum in bringing stakeholders together to exchange knowledge and ideas, which is driving forward retail offerings in the Kingdom and beyond.
The two-day RLC Global Forum started on Feb. 3 under the strategic theme “Growth Crossroads,” and brought together more than 2,000 global leaders, policymakers, and innovators from over 40 countries to define the next chapter of growth across retail, consumer, and lifestyle industries.
Speaking to Arab News, Majid Al-Gothmi, acting CEO of shopping centre management company Red Malls, said: “The Saudi retail sector is changing under Vision 2030. The transformation has helped our growth.”
He agreed that digital tools, AI, and new technologies are being used to improve customer experience and day-to-day operations.
“It’s helping us a lot in actually profiling our customers, understanding them, and providing better services to the younger generation,” said Al-Gothmi.
“Gen Z constitutes a major component of the retail market. We can see that 70 percent of the consumers are Gen-Z — they do most of their shopping online, over 60 percent of them,” he added, going on to say that his company’s focus is on “future proofing” shopping malls by integrating technology along with physical space that allows people to mingle comfortably and seamlessly.
Al-Gothmi described the RLC Global Forum as “an excellent platform gathering all the developers, retailers, brands, and most importantly, policymakers.”
He added: “This is a first, I think, where they share their insights, challenges, and exchange solutions, which helps the whole industry to move faster.”
Stefania Lazzaroni, CEO of Italian luxury brands association Altagamma Foundation, told Arab News that she expects steady growth for high-end products and experiences in the Kingdom.
She said: “There’s a new trend about hospitality, fine dining, longevity, and health spa beauty. These are the key factors that are growing. And we believe fine dining, hospitality and spa health as well will be a new trend even in this area. Honestly, they have been doing well for a couple of years.”
Stefania Lazzaroni, CEO of Altagamma Foundation. AN
Lazzaroni asserted that digital tools, AI and new technologies are being used to improve customer experience, as “the luxury client is very specific about what they want.”
She added: “Artificial intelligence is really perfect for us. We have a lot of counterfeiting all around the world, so technology can really support luxury brands in protecting their brands.
“So we are very pro artificial intelligence, which is changing the game and giving more strength and potential for luxury brands.”
The CEO explained that AI is also useful for talking to Gen Z, “which will be the clients of the future.”
She added: “So today with social media, TikTok, and so forth, there is an explosion of beauty, Gen Z is very much active on this.”
Abdel-Salam Bdeir, CEO at the Saudi Co. for Hardware, agreed that the retail sector is changing under Vision 2030 transformation.
He told Arab News: “We are building new technologies for AI to be used and demand planning and inventory optimization, marketing, and pricing optimization, margin, maximization.
“Even in security cameras, communication with customers, shopping behavior targeting certain sectors of customers, we are building all that as we speak.”
Bdeir believes technological progress brings both opportunities and challenges, among them the risk of fewer jobs.
He said: “With major international platforms entering the market, not only the jobs, but money goes to other markets. That’s why the United States, UK, France, Italy, Spain, and Germany put strict regulations on international platforms first to meet safety standards for the consumer and environmental standards, and second to secure jobs for locals.
“They also put higher tariffs, customs duties, on developing markets like India, Egypt, Turkiye, Brazil, Mexico, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia.”
Bdeir added: “So what is in my opinion, necessary is for the regulators to do what European countries and developing markets did to protect jobs, consumers and the economy.”
