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Matt Smith

Senior editor

Matt Smith is a former Reuters correspondent who has covered the Middle East and North Africa since 2006, specialising in various sectors including stock markets, telecoms, technology, banking and finance

Matt Smith
Saudi Central Bank's nuanced loan-to-deposit calculation indicates that there is opportunity for expanded lending

Saudi banks have room to expand lending

The loan books of Saudi Arabian banks now exceed their total deposits, which might normally be a warning sign that the sector’s finances are under strain. Yet the Saudi Central Bank (Sama) takes a more nuanced approach to calculating loan-to-deposit ratios, an important metric known in the industry as LDR. Sama’s assessment indicates that lenders […]

Shoppers at Kuwait City's central souq. Debt reforms approved by the cabinet will help fund Kuwait's diversification plans

High hopes for Kuwait reforms lift its stock market

Kuwait’s stock market is the Gulf’s top performer this year as local and foreign investors bet that economic reforms and increased infrastructure spending will bolster corporate profits. Investors seem more confident Kuwait will make good on its long-awaited plans following the suspension of parliament last May. Parliament and the government were often at loggerheads, derailing […]

Emirates NBD Egypt Banque du Caire

Emirates NBD downplays reports of Egyptian acquisition

Emirates NBD, Dubai’s largest bank by assets, has refuted media reports that it is undertaking due diligence on a state-owned Egyptian bank ahead of potentially buying a stake in the lender. Last week, Kuwaiti and Egyptian media published articles detailing how Emirates NBD – which has an Egyptian subsidiary – had begun examining the books […]

Men at the Kuwait City souq. Kuwait last sold dollar-denominated bonds in 2017

Kuwait gets closer to tapping debt markets to fund infrastructure

Kuwait has moved a step closer to selling debt on the international markets again after the cabinet approved a draft decree that should help the country fund multibillion-dollar infrastructure projects. Historically the country has had little need to borrow thanks to its oil revenue and relatively unambitious spending plans. Kuwait last sold dollar-denominated bonds in […]

A Cairo branch of Banque Du Caire, which is Egypt’s sixth largest bank by assets

Emirates NBD to buy stake in Egypt’s Banque du Caire

Emirates NBD, Dubai’s largest bank by assets, has begun due diligence ahead of buying a stake in Egypt’s sixth-largest commercial bank, Banque du Caire. The purchase would be the latest sale of a government-owned asset in a stalled privatisation programme, according to regional media. Egypt agreed an expanded $8 billion loan from the International Monetary […]

Project finance is becoming ever more important in funding the growing number of major infrastructure projects across the Gulf region

Project finance central to funding Gulf infrastructure

Financing a project and project finance are not necessarily the same thing. Irrespective, project finance is as important as ever in the Gulf in funding billions of dollars of infrastructure projects, from energy and water schemes to data centres and battery storage facilities, according to experts.  Abbas Hussein, global head of infrastructure and development finance […]

Workers at a construction site near Riyadh. The need for project finance has grown as Gulf governments push ahead with mega-projects

The changing face of project finance around the Gulf

Contrasting trends are emerging in Gulf project finance, with deals increasing in duration but also more likely to be refinanced early. Project finance is a funding model often used for infrastructure, in which repayment comes from revenue generated by the completed facility rather than being guaranteed by the owners. “Repayment depends on the project succeeding,” […]

Alpha Data was Abu Dhabi's second-most traded stock as 75 million shares changed hands

Alpha Data listing brightens up gloomy ADX

Shares in Abu Dhabi’s Alpha Data surged on the company’s bourse debut, outperforming a subdued main market index. The first-day performance of the IT services provider contrasts with the struggles of several companies to list on UAE stock exchanges following initial public offerings in the past 12 months. Alpha Data ended 7 percent higher at […]

Wealthy investors have another asset to trade with securitisation

Asset securitisation in the Gulf takes its first baby steps 

Asset securitisation, a $14 trillion business in the United States, seems to be finally gaining ground in the Gulf. Last week the UAE lender Deem Finance sealed a $400 million asset securitisation deal with JP Morgan. Emirates NBD of Dubai and Rasmal Ventures in Qatar have also co-invested $7.6 million in the Turkish startup TeamSec, […]

Workers carry fertiliser bags to be mixed with water at a farm in Sharjah: the World Bank’s fertiliser price index has rebounded to 124 from a three-year low last May of 108

Gulf investors urged to switch from petrochems to fertiliser

Gulf fertiliser companies are trading below their fair value, with investors not seeming to price in a rebound in product prices that analysts say is more than just a seasonal upswing. In the Gulf, fertilisers and petrochemicals are considered adjacent industries, since both rely on natural gas as a feedstock. While petrochemical companies’ earnings have […]

Mashreq Group CEO Ahmed Abdelaal. Mashreq has the highest dividend yield among UAE banks

Mashreq and First Abu Dhabi winning bank efficiency race

Dubai’s Mashreq bank, the UAE’s fifth-largest by assets, slashed its cost-to-income ratio, an important banking metric, last year thanks to the partial sale of a subsidiary and more customers switching to non-interest-bearing accounts. The cost-to-income ratio shows the relation between income and the cost of acquiring that income. A declining ratio suggests that a bank […]

Aramco is facing a projected 30 percent drop in oil dividends

Saudi deficit to rise after $40bn loss in Aramco oil dividends

A projected 30 percent drop in Saudi Aramco’s oil dividends in 2025 is likely to force the government and state-owned Saudi Public Investment Fund to step up borrowing to fund infrastructure and other projects under the kingdom’s Vision 2030 economic and social strategy, analysts say. The world’s largest oil company intends to cut dividends to […]

UAE dividends: As well as looking for high yields, investors prioritising dividends should target companies with explicit dividend policies, experts say

Blue chip dividend yields in UAE beat US and Europe

Most UAE blue chip stocks provide much higher dividend yields than their counterparts in Europe and the United States, an AGBI analysis shows. The top 20 largest listed UAE businesses, excluding two non-dividend paying companies, offer an average dividend yield of 4.7 percent.  This is almost 60 percent better than the average yield of 1.9 […]

Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson at the Los Angeles Auto Show in 2023. Lucid has been majority-owned by Saudi Arabia’s PIF since April 2019

EV maker Lucid’s CEO quits as total losses hit $13bn

Peter Rawlinson, the CEO of the Saudi Arabia-backed electric car maker Lucid Motors, has resigned after the Californian company’s total accumulated losses rose to almost $13 billion. Earlier this week, Lucid announced that its losses in 2024 were up almost 11 percent to $3.1 billion, from $2.8 billion the year before. Shares in Lucid, which […]

Sabic's Arrazi manufacturing site in Jubail, Saudi Arabia. Analysts say a slowdown in new capacity is needed

Petrochemicals ‘won’t even get fleeting respite’, analysts warn

Executives and investors in Saudi petrochemicals could be forgiven for needing a break from industry news after its biggest companies report what are widely expected to be lacklustre results for the final quarter of 2024. They won’t be getting that pause any time soon, however. Extra production capacity that was expected in 2024 is instead […]

Sabic's Product Application and Development Center in Riyadh. Sabic was one of the few Saudi petrochemical companies to report improved earnings in the first nine months of 2024

Gloomy outlook for Saudi petrochemicals

Saudi Arabia’s 10 listed petrochemical companies are likely to report lacklustre earnings for the fourth quarter of 2024 because of an ongoing downturn in the global chemicals industry, analysts predict. The sector’s prolonged malaise means they are likely to be of little interest to international institutional investors – although all enjoy significant cost advantages over […]

Pension funds managed by third parties are pillars of many stock markets – and could be in the UAE too

UAE pension plans aim to ease end-of-service headaches

Pensions are a headache for governments, companies and employees alike. How to provide staff with a comfortable retirement that could last for decades? Historically, staff leaving UAE companies receive a substantial one-off payout from their employer, the amount increasing significantly the longer the period of service. But this “defined benefit” system can cause financial difficulties […]

Waha Capital's holdings include Orchid, which provides fertility services in the UAE

Waha Capital to expand UAE health business

Abu Dhabi’s Waha Capital, a listed company with $3.2 billion of assets under management, plans to expand its healthcare business in the UAE, and could make acquisitions to do so. The company aims to tap demand from the emirates’ expanding population and visitors from India, its chief financial officer said. Waha is part-owned by Abu […]

A branch of Dubai Islamic Bank. Its share price is up 23% over the past 12 months

Share price rally tipped to keep rolling for UAE banks

A year-long rally in share prices for major UAE banks still has some steam in it, underpinned by loans growth and attractive dividend yields, analysts have said. In the 12 months to February 11, the share price of Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) surged by almost 40 percent. Shares in Emirates NBD, Mashreq and Dubai […]

SNB bank Saudi

Saudi Arabia’s biggest bank wants wealthy depositors back

Saudi Arabia’s largest bank by assets is trying to woo back wealthy customers after losing many since a merger in 2021. SNB, or Saudi National Bank, is a merger of National Commercial Bank and Samba Financial Group, formerly known as the Saudi American Bank. It has underperformed against its major domestic rivals, reporting comparatively lower […]