Banking & Finance Egyptian banks follow currency devaluation with high-yield CDs Egypt’s three biggest state banks on Thursday offered three-year certificates of deposit with a 17.25 percent annual yield, a move designed to absorb liquidity and contain inflation after a devaluation of the currency. The move by National Bank of Egypt (NBE), Banque Misr (BM) and Banque du Caire followed a 200 basis points rate hike […] October 28, 2022
Emirates NBD’s Q3 2022 profit climbs 51% on higher income Emirates NBD, Dubai’s biggest bank, reported on Thursday a 51 percent rise in net profit in the third quarter of 2022 on higher income, including net interest income and from transactions. Emirates NBD made net profit of AED3.8 billion ($1.03 billion) in the quarter from AED2.5 billion in the third quarter of 2021. EFG Hermes […] October 28, 2022
Banking & Finance Israel’s Bank Leumi interested in investments in Saudi Arabia Israel’s Bank Leumi would like to tap into investment opportunities in Saudi Arabia, Chairman Samer Haj Yehia told a business forum in Riyadh, which he is attending in the latest sign of a potential thawing in Saudi-Israeli relations. The presence of Bank Leumi, one of Israel’s two largest banks, at the kingdom’s flagship investment event […] October 28, 2022
Manufacturing Mercedes-Benz lifts profit forecast as luxury cars boom Mercedes-Benz raised its full-year profit forecast on Wednesday as strong demand for luxury cars and cost savings offset the supply chain bottlenecks that have hampered industry output this year. The German automaker said it now expected group earnings to rise at least 15% this year, compared with a previous forecast of 5%-15% growth, after profits […] October 27, 2022
Banking & Finance Turkey bankers say ballooning debt poses long-term risks Turkish bank executives raised concerns with authorities this week that a year of new rules forcing them to buy government bonds could ultimately destabilise the sector, even as it sharply reduces costs of a big pre-election spending plan. According to six people who participated in or were briefed on a Monday meeting with finance minister […] October 27, 2022
Business of Sport Qatar’s beIN Sports picks Saudi firm as $150m advertising partner Qatar-based beIN, a sports broadcaster that was banned in Saudi Arabia until last year, said on Wednesday it had chosen a Saudi firm as its exclusive advertising partner in the Middle East and North Africa in a deal that a source put at some $150 million. BeIN Sports said in a statement it had signed […] October 27, 2022
Tech Oman’s sovereign fund eyes investments in UK tech firms Oman’s sovereign wealth fund, the Oman Investment Authority, is considering investing in the United Kingdom’s technology sector to take advantage of valuations hit by rising interest rates and the fall in sterling, an OIA executive said on Wednesday. Ibrahim Al Eisri, director general of private equity at OIA, told Reuters the wealth fund was looking […] October 27, 2022
Banking & Finance Morocco shores up finances by choosing IMF deal over bonds Morocco has not issued an international bond this year due to market volatility and higher interest rates, opting instead for an International Monetary Fund (IMF) credit line to shore up public finances, the finance minister said on Tuesday. Last time Morocco issued an international bond was in 2020 when it raised $3 billion. “This year […] October 26, 2022
Banking & Finance US bankers at Riyadh summit issue warning over world economy Top Wall Street bankers renewed their warnings about the world economy on Tuesday amid geopolitical tensions and steep interest rate hikes to tackle decades-high inflation. Goldman Sachs boss David Solomon said economic conditions would “tighten meaningfully from here” and the US Federal Reserve could hike rates beyond 4.5-4.75 percent if it does not see real […] October 26, 2022
Economy UAE’s total revenue rose 26% and spending up 1% in 2021 The United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) state revenues totalled AED463.9 billion ($126.3 billion) in 2021, up 26 percent from 2020, state news agency WAM reported on Tuesday, citing the finance ministry. State expenditure totalled AED402.4bn in the same period, up one percent on 2020, WAM said. The figures pointed to an overall surplus of AED61.5 billion […] October 26, 2022
Energy Riyadh was more ‘mature’ in spat with Washington, minister tells FII Saudi Arabia decided to be the “maturer guys” in a spat with the United States over oil supplies, the kingdom’s energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said on Tuesday. Prince Abdulaziz made the comment during his speech to the kingdom’s Future Investment Initiative (FII) event, which has drawn top executives from the US and elsewhere. […] October 25, 2022
Banking & Finance South Korea’s Mirae Asset in talks to fund Elon Musk’s Twitter deal South Korea’s Mirae Asset Financial Group is planning to commit about 300 billion Korean won ($208 million) to help finance Elon Musk’s $44 billion buyout of Twitter Inc, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday. The deal with Mirae is expected to be finalised in the coming days before the deadline for […] October 25, 2022
Banking & Finance Lebanon says state cannot ‘save all depositors’ who lost funds in crisis Lebanon’s deputy prime minister Saade Chami said Monday that the government’s plan to revive an economy crushed by a three-year financial crisis would not be able to pay back all depositors in full. Chami is the architect behind a recovery roadmap that Lebanon’s cabinet passed in May and which includes several measures that are required […] October 25, 2022
Banking & Finance Abu Dhabi’s sovereign fund ADQ manages $157bn in assets Sovereign wealth fund tracker Global SWF estimated on Monday that Abu Dhabi’s ADQ, which last week became the new owner of state carrier Etihad, has seen its assets under management grow to $157 billion. The smallest of Abu Dhabi’s three main sovereign wealth funds, ADQ has emerged as one of the region’s most active dealmakers, […] October 25, 2022
Economy Rishi Sunak to be UK prime minister: What you need to know Rishi Sunak will be Britain’s next prime minister after his rivals quit the race, following one of the most turbulent periods in British political history. Politics Sunak, the 42-year-old former finance minister, will become Britain’s third prime minister in less than two months. His predecessor Liz Truss was brought down after just six weeks in […] October 24, 2022
Banking & Finance Empower targets Gulf expansion with IPO cash boost Dubai’s Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation (Empower) plans to launch its initial public offering (IPO) on the Dubai Financial Market on November 16, as it eyes expansion to neighbouring Gulf states, company executives said on Monday. Subscriptions will open on October 31 and close on November 7. Final pricing will be set on November 9 […] October 24, 2022
Tourism Airbus and Boeing battle for jet orders for new Saudi airline Saudi Arabia is in advanced negotiations to order almost 40 A350 jets from Europe’s Airbus as part of strategic efforts to launch a new airline and challenge heavyweight carriers in the Gulf, industry sources said. If confirmed, the purchase by the sovereign Public Investment Fund (PIF), worth $12 billion at list prices, could be announced […] October 24, 2022
Banking & Finance Lebanon to halt purchase of US dollars on Sayrafa platform Lebanon’s central bank will halt purchases of dollars on its Sayrafa platform starting on October 25 until further notice, a statement from the central bank said on Sunday. The statement said the bank would continue to sell exclusively dollars on its exchange rate platform. The move is intended to strengthen the Lebanese pound after it […] October 24, 2022
Banking & Finance Egypt to develop new currency indicator to wean off dollar peg Egypt will develop a new currency indicator partly to wean people off the idea that the Egyptian pound should be pegged to the US dollar, the new central bank governor said on Sunday. Hassan Abdalla, appointed in August, told an economic conference that the central bank was also working to introduce currency hedging and had […] October 24, 2022
Banking & Finance Turkey halts lending to more FX-rich firms to boost lira Turkey tightened lending rules for many companies with more than $500,000 in foreign currency cash on Friday, sweeping up more borrowers under rules adopted in June in the latest step to reverse a tumbling lira. The BDDK bank regulator said that if companies subject to independent audit had more than 10 million lira ($538,000) of […] October 24, 2022
Energy Lebanon and Syria discuss sea border after Beirut’s Israel deal The Lebanese and Syrian presidents discussed delineating their countries’ shared maritime border on Saturday before a visit to Damascus next week by a Lebanese delegation tasked with negotiating the issue, a Lebanese official said. A dispute over their shared sea boundary emerged last year after Syria granted a licence to a Russian energy company to […] October 24, 2022
Logistics Saudi Arabia eyes $10bn in supply chain investment Saudi Arabia’s crown prince on Sunday launched an initiative to attract investments in supply chains to and from the kingdom, with an aim of raising an initial SAR 40 billion ($10.64 billion). The initiative by Prince Mohammed bin Salman will include allocating about SAR 10 billion in incentives for supply chain investors, state news agency […] October 24, 2022