Company Insights Mashreq Banking and Finance Mashreq Overview Founded in 1967, Mashreq is the UAE’s oldest bank. As well as traditional banking, including Islamic finance, Mashreq offers online banking and ecommerce services. Citizens resident in the UAE can access instant personal loans through the Mashreq Neo app. Mashreq operates in more than 10 other countries, with corporate banking businesses in Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and India, corporate and retail banking in Egypt, and foreign exchange businesses in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal. It also has branches in New York, London and Hong Kong. Mashreq says it values social responsibility and is committed to sustainability, operating a corporate social responsibility programme since 2011. The company also says it practises “an active and dynamic Emiratisation strategy”. Mashreq is listed on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM), with major shareholders including Dubai’s Saif Al Ghurair Investment Group with 41.75 percent and Abdullah Ahmed Al Ghurair Investment Company with 31 percent. Mashreq’s subsidiaries include Mashreq Al Islami, Mashreq Securities, Mashreq Capital, Shorouq Commodities Trading and Sukoon Insurance. It also owns tech management firm Mindscape and loans company Osool. In 2024 Mashreq sold a 65 percent stake in its IDFAA Payments subsidiary – more commonly known as NeoPay – in a deal worth $385 million to Bahrain’s Arcapita Group and Turkish fintech company Dgpays. Mashreq News Manufacturing UAE’s $11bn manufacturing investment aims to cut oil reliance The UAE plans investment of more than AED40 billion ($11 billion) over the next five years to establish itself as a centre for advanced manufacturing. The strategy aims to expand its industrial base, accelerating efforts to diversify its economy away from oil. Highlighting progress so far, Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, federal minister of industry and […] May 20, 2025 Markets Arabian Construction Company hires banks for IPO Arabian Construction Company (ACC), a family-owned business in Abu Dhabi, has reportedly picked local and global banks for its proposed initial public offering. First Abu Dhabi Bank and HSBC will advise the company on its domestic listing, Bloomberg reported. The listing is expected to take place in the second half of the year, sources said. In […] May 16, 2025 Real Estate Omniyat raises $500m to fund sustainable projects Dubai real estate developer Omniyat has raised $500 million to fund its sustainable developments. The order book of the inaugural three-year green sukuk was oversubscribed 3.6 times, reaching $1.8 billion. The sukuk will be listed and traded on Nasdaq Dubai and the London Stock Exchange’s international securities market. The pricing details were not given. Sukuk […] May 5, 2025 Banking and Finance Mashreq Q1 profit down but shares see gains Tighter net interest margins and increased expenses have hit first quarter profits at Mashreq, the fifth-largest lender in the UAE by assets. The Dubai-listed bank said net profit after tax decreased 12 percent annually in the three months to March to AED1.8 billion ($490 million). Mashreq’s shares, which closed at AED242 on Wednesday, are nonetheless […] May 1, 2025 Markets Gulf issuers plan debt sales, undeterred by market turmoil Gulf issuers, including Saudi Arabia’s $925 billion sovereign wealth fund, are working on a round of bond offerings, according to sources, braving debt markets despite recent turmoil ignited by US President Donald Trump’s tariff policies. Markets have been volatile since Trump announced sweeping tariffs on April 2, even after he rolled most of them back, as investors struggle to […] April 22, 2025 Analysis Banking and Finance 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 […] March 5, 2025 Banking and Finance Arab Energy Fund raises $650m in bonds The Arab Energy Fund, formerly known as Apicorp, has raised $650 million in a five-year bond issue that was oversubscribed 1.4 times. AEF is a multilateral lender focused on the Mena energy sector, with headquarters in Riyadh. It initially planned to raise $500 million but increased the issue size after demand surged, attracting more than […] February 28, 2025 Analysis Markets 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 […] February 28, 2025 Banking and Finance UAE’s Mashreq to operate digital retail bank in Pakistan The Pakistani subsidiary of the UAE’s Mashreq, which trades on the Dubai Financial Market, has been granted a licence for a digital retail bank. This is the first restricted licence for pilot operations, which will allow Mashreq Bank Pakistan to use artificial intelligence and cloud computing to offer personalised banking services, the State Bank of Pakistan […] February 23, 2025 Real Estate Damac tightens yield on $750m sukuk Dubai developer Damac Real Estate Development has sold $750 million in 3-1/2-year Islamic bond (sukuk), according to a document seen by Reuters on Wednesday. The yield was set at 7 percent, narrower than the 7.5 percent initial price guidance released earlier in the day after the orders surpassed $2.3 billion, the lead bank document showed. […] February 20, 2025 Posts navigation 1 2 … 7 Next
Manufacturing UAE’s $11bn manufacturing investment aims to cut oil reliance The UAE plans investment of more than AED40 billion ($11 billion) over the next five years to establish itself as a centre for advanced manufacturing. The strategy aims to expand its industrial base, accelerating efforts to diversify its economy away from oil. Highlighting progress so far, Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, federal minister of industry and […] May 20, 2025
Markets Arabian Construction Company hires banks for IPO Arabian Construction Company (ACC), a family-owned business in Abu Dhabi, has reportedly picked local and global banks for its proposed initial public offering. First Abu Dhabi Bank and HSBC will advise the company on its domestic listing, Bloomberg reported. The listing is expected to take place in the second half of the year, sources said. In […] May 16, 2025
Real Estate Omniyat raises $500m to fund sustainable projects Dubai real estate developer Omniyat has raised $500 million to fund its sustainable developments. The order book of the inaugural three-year green sukuk was oversubscribed 3.6 times, reaching $1.8 billion. The sukuk will be listed and traded on Nasdaq Dubai and the London Stock Exchange’s international securities market. The pricing details were not given. Sukuk […] May 5, 2025
Banking and Finance Mashreq Q1 profit down but shares see gains Tighter net interest margins and increased expenses have hit first quarter profits at Mashreq, the fifth-largest lender in the UAE by assets. The Dubai-listed bank said net profit after tax decreased 12 percent annually in the three months to March to AED1.8 billion ($490 million). Mashreq’s shares, which closed at AED242 on Wednesday, are nonetheless […] May 1, 2025
Markets Gulf issuers plan debt sales, undeterred by market turmoil Gulf issuers, including Saudi Arabia’s $925 billion sovereign wealth fund, are working on a round of bond offerings, according to sources, braving debt markets despite recent turmoil ignited by US President Donald Trump’s tariff policies. Markets have been volatile since Trump announced sweeping tariffs on April 2, even after he rolled most of them back, as investors struggle to […] April 22, 2025
Analysis Banking and Finance 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 […] March 5, 2025
Banking and Finance Arab Energy Fund raises $650m in bonds The Arab Energy Fund, formerly known as Apicorp, has raised $650 million in a five-year bond issue that was oversubscribed 1.4 times. AEF is a multilateral lender focused on the Mena energy sector, with headquarters in Riyadh. It initially planned to raise $500 million but increased the issue size after demand surged, attracting more than […] February 28, 2025
Analysis Markets 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 […] February 28, 2025
Banking and Finance UAE’s Mashreq to operate digital retail bank in Pakistan The Pakistani subsidiary of the UAE’s Mashreq, which trades on the Dubai Financial Market, has been granted a licence for a digital retail bank. This is the first restricted licence for pilot operations, which will allow Mashreq Bank Pakistan to use artificial intelligence and cloud computing to offer personalised banking services, the State Bank of Pakistan […] February 23, 2025
Real Estate Damac tightens yield on $750m sukuk Dubai developer Damac Real Estate Development has sold $750 million in 3-1/2-year Islamic bond (sukuk), according to a document seen by Reuters on Wednesday. The yield was set at 7 percent, narrower than the 7.5 percent initial price guidance released earlier in the day after the orders surpassed $2.3 billion, the lead bank document showed. […] February 20, 2025
