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James Drummond

Editor-in-Chief

An Arabic speaker, the British national’s wide experience in the region includes roles as a former hedge fund correspondent and news editor in the Gulf for the Financial Times, as well as FT correspondent in Cairo and Baghdad, where he covered the aftermath of the US-led invasion. Oxford-educated Drummond is a qualified chartered accountant and anti-money laundering specialist, and has also led geopolitical risk analysis for a number of global banking and corporate institutions

James Drummond
Bogus calls from fraudsters are becoming a near-daily occurrence

‘Hi, this is your bank…’ Inside the war on payment fraud

“Hello. This is the Central Bank of the UAE. We are contacting you because you need to surrender your debit card.” The call comes from a conventional mobile number while you’re on the way home from work.   Welcome to the scamdemic – claim your prize, share your one-time password, update your bank details, click […]

Workers at an oil refinery in Kerbala, central Iraq. Rising oil prices have helped the country to pay down debt

Moody’s opts to keep Iraq on lowly sovereign rating

An influential ratings agency has decided to keep Iraq on one of its lowest sovereign ratings, despite the country’s strong oil exports and recovering foreign exchange reserves. Moody’s Investor Services said in an annual review released last week that corruption and weak institutions prompted it to maintain Iraq on a Caa1 rating, which is on […]

Egypt wants to deepen cooperation with Asian partners to attract more investors, said finance minister Mohamed Al Al Maait

IMF urges Egypt to embrace flexible exchange rate

The IMF chief responsible for the Middle East and Central Asia called on Egypt on Wednesday to liberalise its exchange rate fully, amid stasis in Cairo over a series of reforms demanded by the international community. Speaking at an event in the Dubai International Financial Centre, Jihad Azour said that the Fund was in discussion […]

The UAE granted a licence to Russia's MTS Bank only weeks ago

UAE reviewing status of Russian bank MTS

The central bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) has said it is assessing the status of MTS, a Russian bank to which it gave a licence only weeks previously. Marking the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the US Treasury and the British foreign office said that they were sanctioning MTS Bank, […]

Venture capital firm to bring healthcare technology to the UAE

An Abu Dhabi-based venture capital firm has obtained approval from regulators to invite investors into healthcare startups in the US and elsewhere with a view to bringing specialist technology to the Middle East.  Biosis Ventures said this week it had in principle received permission from the Abu Dhabi Global Market to offer venture capital products […]

Egyptian investors look to real estate to hedge against inflation

Egyptian investors are looking to real estate as a hedge against inflation and a depreciating pound, while landlords are increasingly pricing in US dollars. Merna Arafat, an analyst at Beltone, a Cairo-based brokerage, said that many investors had begun moving into property in March this year when the government started allowing the Egyptian pound to […]

China-GCC free trade agreement in ‘final and critical’ stage

The China-GCC free trade agreement negotiations have entered the “final and critical stage”. The two sides have agreed on most issues and are putting the final touches on the agreement, according to WAM, the UAE state-owned news agency, citing a top Chinese diplomat. 200 billion reasons why the Gulf is China’s hottest trading partner UAE […]

Sony unit takes stake in Gulf concert promoter

The founders of an agency that has played a central part in revolutionising entertainment in the Gulf said on Thursday that a tie-up with New York-based Sony Masterworks will buy the operation time and space to expand and invest.  Sony has acquired 55 percent of Mac Global for an undisclosed sum, Daniel Goldberg, one of […]