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Banking & Finance

Banking & finance news from the Middle East. All the important stories, exclusive interviews, plus authoritative opinion and analysis

Shorooq partner Tamer Azer says the VC firm is excited about investing in a 'different generation' of companies in sectors such as gaming

VC firm Shorooq focuses on AI, biotech and gaming

Venture capital company Shorooq Partners will target companies specialising in sectors such as artificial intelligence, biotech and gaming, a senior executive told AGBI. Shorooq is based in Abu Dhabi and manages about $350 million in assets and invests in startups in the Middle East and North Africa and beyond. It is focused on on fintech […]

A man pushes a shopping cart near a screen showing the exchange rate of Lebanese pound to U.S. dollars inside a supermarket in Beirut, Lebanon March 9, 2023. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

Lebanon’s EDL harnesses the power of ‘dollarisation’

Lebanese citizens will soon be able to pay their electricity bills in US dollars as the unofficial “dollarisation” of the nation’s economy continues. The decision by Électricité du Liban (EDL) to allow customers to choose to pay their bills in USD instead of Lebanese lira was ratified by the electricity provider’s board of governors this […]

Cop28 president Sultan Al Jaber and Cop28 director general Majid Al Suwaidi at the Closing Plenary session

UAE climate fund aims to mobilise $250bn by 2030

Altérra, a $30 billion climate-focused fund set up by the UAE and asset managers BlackRock, TPG and Brookfield, aims to catalyse the investment of $250 billion of private capital by 2030, its chief executive said.  “The vision for Altérra was borne out of the Cop28 agenda for how to make climate finance more available, accessible […]

Rothschild Saudi Arabia King Abdullah Financial District

Rothschild’s Saudi office signals vote for Riyadh

Rothschild & Co has opened an office in Saudi Arabia, giving a vote of confidence in the country’s massive economic development plans.  The investment bank’s office in Riyadh’s King Abdullah Financial District will manage advisory services including mergers and acquisitions, debt advisory and restructuring and private equity.  Nasser Al Issa, managing director of the Saudi […]

The ADGM plans to extend its anti-greenwashing regulations to banking, insurance and other finance sectors

Finance free zone takes action against greenwashing

A clampdown on greenwashing by “bad actors” trying to enter the fast-growing sustainable finance industry is underway in the UAE financial free zone Abu Dhabi Global Market.  Greenwashing is the use of deceptive marketing by companies to persuade investors and the public that their products, aims and policies are environmentally friendly.  “The challenge is [creating] […]

Cheques are 'still a fundamental thing for people' in the UAE but their use is diminishing

Not yet time to write off UAE cheque payments

Cheque books are on their way out in the UAE, but experts have said there is still some way to go before they are signed off for good. The number of cheques cleared through the country’s banks has fallen from 26 million in 2019 to just over 20 million for the first 11 months of […]

The DIFC is now home to 5,523 companies, up 26 percent year-on-year reflection DIFC building

Record occupancy at DIFC despite Riyadh’s HQ drive

Occupancy levels in Dubai’s International Financial Centre (DIFC) have risen significantly in the last year, despite strong competition from neighbouring Saudi Arabia. “The fastest growth we ever witnessed in the DIFC has been in the last three or four years,” Essa Kazim, the DIFC governor, told a media briefing on Thursday. He revealed that the […]

The total number of savers for Saudi Arabia's sukuk product stood at 35,000, with the yield set at 5.64%

Saudi Arabia raises $230m from its first savings product

Subscriptions to the first round of the Saudi government’s sukuk savings product reached SAR861 million ($229.6 million), the National Debt Management Center (NDMC) said. The total number of savers for the sukuk product stood at 35,000, with the yield set at 5.64 percent, the state-run Saudi Press Agency reported. The sukuk maturity date is February […]

green bond fee waiver Emirates NBD

Emirates NBD wins first UAE green bond fee waiver

Emirates NBD has become the first financial institution to benefit from a fee waiver intended to boost sustainability-related debt security issuances in the UAE. The Dubai Financial Services Authority, which announced the green bond fee waiver during the Cop28 summit last year, said more financial institutions were submitting applications to benefit from the scheme. However, […]

Saudi National Bank and Al Rajhi Bank have recommended dividends of 9% and 11.5% respectively for the second half of 2023

Remittances to Pakistan from Saudi Arabia and UAE reach $6.5bn

Total remittances from Saudi Arabia and the UAE to Pakistan reached $6.5 billion between July 2023 and January 2024, a Pakistani local daily reported. Saudi Arabia led the list of nations with remittance inflows to Pakistan, reaching nearly $4 billion in the first seven months of fiscal year 2024, Dawn news outlet reported, citing State […]

Al Ansari reported that customer demand for digital channels skyrocketed, with a 94% year on year increase in transaction value

Al Ansari profit falls 16% as remittance takes a hit

UAE remittance and foreign exchange house Al Ansari Financial Services reported a 16 percent year on year decline in profit due to a drop in the remittance segment and increased expenses. The company reported a net profit of AED495 million for 2023, hoping the newly announced remittance fee hike will help offset costs and strengthen […]

The Ooredoo board will recommend a cash dividend of QAR0.55 per share at the annual general meeting in March

Ooredoo’s 2023 profit reaches all-time high of $824m

Qatari telecom major Ooredoo reported an all-time high net profit of QAR3 billion ($824 million) in 2023, up 28 percent year on year thanks to solid performances in Iraq, Kuwait, Algeria and the Maldives. Revenue increased by two percent year on year to QAR23.2 billion, the company, which trades on the Qatar stock exchange, said […]

Binance founder Zhao Changpeng, who paid $4.3bn in a money-laundering settlement. Investcorp says it would not currently recommend digital assets to investors

Investcorp stays cool on digital assets

Investcorp, the Gulf region’s largest alternative investment company, will not be turning to digital assets to boost its bottom line in the short term. The Bahrain company’s Abu Dhabi-listed Investcorp Capital invested more than $639 million in the first half of its financial year to December 31, 2023. The company’s latest financial reports revealed a […]

Customers at UAE remittance company Al Ansari. The revised pricing remains is in line with the UN's sustainable developmental goals

UAE remittance fee to rise 15% for first time in five years

UAE foreign exchange and remittance houses have received permission for a minimum increase of 15 percent, or AED2.50, for the first time in five years. This is the first “optional” fee increase due to the evolving regulatory landscape and related cost increases, the UAE state-run Wam news agency reported, citing the Foreign Exchange and Remittance […]

Removal from the FATF grey list should 'greatly boost the UAE's economy', said one expert

UAE likely to escape FATF grey list this month

The UAE has made “positive steps” to meet anti-money laundering and terrorism funding standards and is likely to be removed from an international grey list later this month. Experts say this will provide a major boost to the Gulf state’s economy. The country was placed under enhanced supervision – known as the grey list – […]

The UAE’s Financial Intelligence Unit says it has made 'clear progress' in fighting financial crime

UAE froze $123m in assets linked to crime in 2022

The UAE froze assets valued at AED 452.5 million ($123 million) in 2022 related to crimes such as money laundering and financing of terrorism, new data shows. The UAE’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), a special unit of the UAE Central Bank, released its annual report this week and revealed that it conducted “freeze orders” targeting […]

Abu Dhabi Gujarat Gift City

ADIA gets nod for $5bn fund in India’s new business hub

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), the UAE’s largest sovereign wealth fund, will set up a $4 billion to $5 billion fund in India’s latest special economic zone. The regulatory authority for financial services at Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (Gift City) has granted in-principle approval to ADIA to set up the fund, the Reuters news […]

Listing requirements for companies joining Nomu are less onerous compared to Saudi Arabia’s main market

Saudi stock market Nomu poised for listings flurry

Saudi Arabia’s lower-tier stock market, Nomu, is poised for a further flurry of new listings this year as an increasing number of the kingdom’s small and mid-sized companies opt to go public to raise money and improve corporate governance standards. Since launching in 2017, Nomu, which means growth in Arabic, has swelled to 79 listed […]