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Banking & Finance

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

Gulf marters China recovery

Gulf stock markets rise with optimism about China’s economy

Gulf stock markets closed higher on Tuesday on expectations of economic recovery in the world’s second largest economy, China, and smaller interest rate hikes from the US Federal Reserve. The Fed will end its tightening cycle after a 25-basis-point hike at each of its next two policy meetings and then likely hold interest rates steady […]

Exempt offer sukuks have become more popular in the past five years

Saudi SMEs look to sharia funding to balance cash flow

In Saudi Arabia, small to medium-sized companies are increasingly turning to sharia-compliant funding to raise money for their businesses. But rather than borrow from banks, these SMEs instead rely on the kingdom’s nascent fintech sector to obtain bridging loans, invoice financing and other kinds of niche financial support. “SMEs are underserved by the banking sector, […]

Sri Lanka expects to complete debt restructuring in six months

Sri Lanka is committed to meeting all its debt repayments and is hoping to complete debt restructuring negotiations in the next six months, the country’s central bank chief P. Nandalal Weerasinghe said on Tuesday. “There has been good progress this month with India already pledging financing assurances. We expect assurances from China and Japan soon,” […]

Lazard says Saudi base to be Mena investment banking hub

Investment bank Lazard Ltd said on Monday it hired Wassim Al-Khatib as chief executive officer of the bank’s investment banking business for the Middle East and North Africa (Mena). Al-Khatib will also be CEO of Lazard Saudi Arabia, the statement said, adding that the bank plans to make its presence in the kingdom as its […]

Tie, Accessories, Accessory

Turkey plans draft law for debt restructuring

Turkey’s ruling AK Party is preparing a draft law to let people and companies restructure debt to public institutions, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday, one of a string of eye-catching measures promised ahead of elections. The changes would waive late payment fees incurred over unpaid tax bills, social security debt and other liabilities, Erdogan […]

Qatari sovereign fund ups stake in Credit Suisse to just under 7%

Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund has increased its stake in Credit Suisse to just under seven percent, becoming the Swiss bank’s second-largest shareholder after Saudi National Bank, in a sign that its Gulf investor base is growing in importance. The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) bought 139.03 million shares in the Swiss lender, Refinitiv data shows based […]

Network International operates in over 50 markets in the Mena region

Payments firm optimistic after World Cup and Saudi launch

Digital payments giant Network International expects to find its revenues grew by more than a quarter in 2022 following the expansion of operations in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Africa. Preliminary audit results will be released in March but the company believes earnings for last year will reach $438 million. The Dubai-based firm, which operates in […]

Top hedge funds earned less for clients in 2022

The 20 best performing hedge fund managers earned $22.4 billion for investors in 2022, marking their slimmest gains since 2016 as many firms, including Tiger Global Management, struggled with slumping financial markets, LCH Investments data shows. The top 20 managers, led by Ken Griffin’s Citadel, Bridgewater Associates and DE Shaw Group, made less than half […]

Money, Dollar, Person

Egypt signs $1.5bn financing pact for energy and commodity imports

Egypt has signed a $1.5 billion financing agreement with the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) to fund its trading, including imports of energy products and essential commodities, CNBC Arabia wrote on Twitter, citing the head of the corporation. Last year Egypt signed a similar agreement also worth $1.5 billion with the ITFC, which is […]

UAE financial literacy

UAE is in ‘first division’ of financial literacy

The UAE is in the ‘first division’ when it comes to financial literacy, according to Alex Fraser, CEO of the London Institute Banking and Finance (LIBF). With just one third of adults worldwide being financially literate, according to Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services Global Financial Literacy Survey, the LIBF is involved in the global challenge […]

PIF has mandated Goldman Sachs, HSBC and Standard Chartered as joint global coordinators

OPEC development fund raises $1bn with first-ever bond

The OPEC Fund for International Development, a development institution established by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries nearly 50 years ago, has raised $1 billion by selling its first-ever bond. With the money earmarked for food security, healthcare, infrastructure, education, employment and renewable energy projects, the three-year bond, which will pay investors an interest […]

India’s Adani Group plans spin off and dismisses debt concerns

India’s Adani Group, which is controlled by billionaire Gautam Adani, said it plans to spin off more businesses by 2028 and dismisses any debt concerns. The corporate house plans to spin off, or demerge, its metals, mining, data centre, airports, roads and logistics businesses, said chief financial officer Jugeshinder Singh said. “The criteria is for […]

People, Person, Crowd

Mena is Binance’s fastest growing region for institutional investors

Binance reported a 34 percent rise in the number of new Middle East and North Africa institutional investors adopting its cryptocurrency technology during the last quarter of 2022, the highest growth of all regions. The world’s largest crypto exchange attributed the results to strong appetite for digital banking and financial solutions in the region. This […]

Movie star Leonardo DiCaprio has largely focused on films about the environment for the past decade

Di Caprio-backed fintech to set up offices in Abu Dhabi

California-based fintech company Aspiration Inc. will be setting up offices at Abu Dhabi Global Market. Aspiration is supported by Access Abu Dhabi, the business expansion program by Maven Global Access and Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO), which serves as a conduit to fast-track entry to the UAE capital, the company said in a statement.  The […]

IPOs, Mena, Stock, Exchange

Rising global interest sets Dubai IPOs on course for strong 2023

Global stock markets may have suffered heavy losses but bourses in the Middle East and North Africa are thriving, recording 42 listings in 2022 and with a healthy pipeline of activity planned for the year ahead.  According to Bloomberg data, Mena initial public offerings (IPOs) raised over $18 billion in 2022. This represents 47 percent […]

Russia adds Egyptian pound and UAE dirham to exchange rate list

Russia’s central bank has added nine currencies to its list of exchange rates against the ruble, including the UAE dirham, Qatari riyal and Egyptian pound (EGP), from January 18, Ahram Online reported. The other six are Thai baht, Vietnamese dong, Serbian dinar, New Zealand dollar, Georgian lari and Indonesian rupiah, the news portal said, citing a […]

Israel’s Playtika offers $738m for Angry Birds maker

Playtika Holding Corp on Thursday sweetened its offer for Finnish game maker Rovio, best known for its “Angry Birds” franchise, to €683 million ($737.50 million), as a consolidation in the industry gathers pace. The offer values each share of Rovio at €9.05, about 60 percent higher than the company’s closing price on January 19. It […]

Turkey’s central bank holds interest rate at 9%

Turkey’s central bank held interest rates at nine percent for a second straight month on Thursday, and analysts said it could return to easing in the run-up to May elections given inflation is expected to drift lower from 64 percent last month. The central bank (CBRT) said the inflation level and trend have improved due […]

The merger is part of First Bank Abu Dhabi's strategy to increase its footprint in Egypt

First Abu Dhabi Bank raises $600m via unsecured bonds

First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), the largest lender in the UAE, sold $600 million in senior unsecured bonds maturing in 5-1/4 years, a bank document showed on Wednesday. FAB sold the bonds at a spread of 105 basis points (bps) over US Treasuries from initial guidance of around 130 bps over the same benchmark after […]

Foundations UAE

Rise of UAE foundations as wealth management sector matures

The UAE’s richest people are increasingly setting up foundations to structure and preserve their wealth for the future. Regional wealth managers told AGBI they have noticed a “significant increase” in the number of foundations being established in the UAE, and in the volume of enquiries they are receiving about setting one up. Bradley Moran, an […]

Central Bank of Egypt's headquarters in Cairo

Egypt’s banks can cope with sharp currency drop, say experts

Egyptian banks can withstand the impact of further currency depreciation as they are supported by “healthy internal capital generation”, analysts say. Fitch Ratings report that large private sector banks are better placed to deal with a weaker pound than the two largest public banks, National Bank of Egypt and Banque Misr, due to their higher […]