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Banking & Finance

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

Food, Invertebrate, Animal

Turkey to receive $500m from World Bank for COVID-19 vaccines

The World Bank said on Thursday that its board had approved $500 million in additional financing to support Turkey in its efforts to fight against COVID-19. The funds, which will have a maturity of 10.5 years with a five-year grace period, will be used to ensure access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines in Turkey, […]

ADC, owned by Abu Dhabi state investor ADQ and Chimera Investment, will identify scalable businesses with strong management teams

Abu Dhabi’s first SPAC lists, raising $100m from share sale

Abu Dhabi’s first special-purpose acquisition company listed today, raising $100 million in the share sale, its co-owners said. ADC, owned by state investor ADQ and Chimera Investment, will identify scalable businesses with strong management teams and acquire one or more businesses, the statement said. Shares of ADC were trading at 10.50 dirhams, up from an […]

Abu Dhabi to allow investors to donate shares to charity

The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) has signed an agreement to allow investors to fund charitable causes by donating some of their shares. The agreement with Dubai’s Awqaf and Minor Affairs Foundation (AMAF) will see dividends from the shares donated used to fund a wide range of charitable causes, and investors can choose which charities […]

Jihad Azour, director, Middle East and Central Asia Department at the IMF, said getting policies right will be all important

Tough year lies ahead for MENA, warns IMF

The MENA region faces “uncertain” economic prospects this year, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). “2022 is a very important year for the MENA region,” said Jihad Azour, director, Middle East and Central Asia Department at the IMF. “Policies are going to be very important and we are going to see challenges arising from the […]

Person, Human, Chair

Cryptocurrencies face regulation to avoid illicit dealings

Cryptocurrency firms, many of which lined the main street in Davos this week, were told they will need to clean up their act before gaining complete acceptance from the World Economic Forum’s old guard. “The future of crypto, I’m sorry to say, looks regulated to me,” said Nela Richardson, senior vice president and chief economist […]

Person, Human, Glasses

UK $350m venture capital fund sees Dubai on the Horizon

Founder of London-based Digital Horizon targets investment potential in UAE startups  London-based venture capital fund Digital Horizon is targeting the UAE for growth, with investments in its first Dubai-based startups expected to be completed later this year. Alan Vaksman, founder and general partner of Digital Horizon, which has $350 million of assets under its management, […]

Qatar already has a rich portfolio in the UK, including London's iconic department store, Harrods
  • Analysis

Qatar promise may trigger deluge of Gulf investments in UK

More Gulf sovereign wealth funds could make huge investments in the United Kingdom following a £10 billion commitment from Qatar. On Tuesday the UK and Qatar signed a new Strategic Investment Partnership which will see the emir state invest billions over the next five years in key sectors of the UK economy including  fintech, zero […]

Saudi exchange

Saudi firms lead MENA IPO charge amid global gloom

Initial public offering (IPO) activity in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is bucking global trends, with investors rushing to take opportunities across a wide range of sectors. Despite uncertainties affecting the global IPO outlook – including the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict – the MENA region saw a 400 percent year-on-year increase in the number […]

ADGM will regulate the exchange

World’s first carbon credit exchange boosts green projects

Abu Dhabi Global Market pioneers the milestone exchange allowing companies to trade carbon credits like conventional financial assets The launch of the world’s first regulated carbon credit exchange and clearing house to regulate carbon credits will help mobilise capital for renewable energy projects in the MENA region. It will also help companies reach their decarbonisation […]

Qatar sovereign wealth fund can’t exit Russia

The Qatar Investment Authority cannot exit the Russian market and is waiting to assess its position there because of the Ukraine crisis, one of the sovereign wealth fund’s chief investment officers said yesterday. Moscow placed restrictions on foreign investors trading Russian assets in March, saying it wanted to ensure decisions to exit were considered and […]

Dubai among lead managers of Indonesia’s biggest Islamic bond

Indonesia has raised $3.25 billion by selling US dollar-denominated Islamic bonds with 5-year and 10-year tenures, the country’s biggest global sukuk issuance, the finance ministry said today. The 5-year notes carry a coupon of 4.40 percent, while the 10-year notes have a 4.70 percent coupon, below the sovereign’s initial price guidance, it said in a […]

President Volodymyr Zelensky at Davos

Zelensky tells Davos the world is ‘at a turning point’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed global business leaders at Davos on Monday, telling them the world faced a turning point and had to ramp up sanctions against Russia as a warning to other countries considering using brute force.  “History is at a turning point… This is really the moment when it is decided whether brute […]

Majis Industrial Services water

Oman’s wealth fund considers IPO for water company

Oman’s sovereign wealth fund, the Oman Investment Authority (OIA), is considering a public share sale for water company Majis Industrial Services. The OIA has invited banks to pitch for roles in Majis’s initial public offering, said two sources, declining to be named. The OIA and Majis did not respond to Reuters’s requests for comment. The […]

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal was listed by Forbes in 2017 as the seventh richest man in the world

Prince Alwaleed sells $1.5bn stake in Kingdom Holding to PIF

Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal has signed an agreement with Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund to sell 16.87 percent of his investment firm Kingdom Holding Co to the fund. The Public Investment Fund (PIF) will buy 625 million shares at 9.09 riyals ($2.42) a share, Kingdom Holding said in a stock exchange filing, for […]

Emirates NBD was the first bank merger to occur, in 2007

UAE needs bigger but fewer banks, says expert

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has too many banks and the sector needs to see more consolidation, especially as profits are squeezed and costs continue to rise, an industry expert told AGBI today. “I think it would be helpful to have fewer banks [in the UAE]. I have been an advocate of that,” Asad Ahmed, […]

Ruler dissolves Dubai World financial disputes tribunal

Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said today he had issued a decree dissolving a tribunal hearing disputes related to Dubai World,the state conglomerate that was at the centre of Dubai’s debt crisis more than a decade ago. Dubai World, which restructured $23.5 billion in debt after the global financial crisis, said in […]

Abu Dhabi, Bahrain stock markets in talks for ‘strategic partnership’

Officials from Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) and Bahrain Bourse (BHB) this week held meetings to discuss developing a strategic partnership to enhance greater cross-border cooperation between the two stock market exchanges. The discussions build on a cooperation agreement signed in November 2021, which aims to achieve synergies, enhance market liquidity and promote innovative products […]

Alpha Dhabi puts $2.51bn into ‘disruptive tech’

Alpha Dhabi Holding, the fourth most valuable listed company in Abu Dhabi, has made a AED9.2 billion ($2.51 billion) commitment to invest in UAE asset management company Chimera Capital and Chimera’s Alpha Wave Ventures II fund. The move is part of its strategy to target fast-growing technology companies. The total commitment comprises a capital contribution […]

BR Shetty NMC Healthcare

NMC scandal is watershed moment for UAE businesses

Revelations about the scale of hidden debts spark debate in the UAE about the need for more rigorous bank loan checks and company auditing The ongoing legal battles surrounding the NMC Healthcare, the largest private healthcare provider in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has been a big learning curve for how businesses manage their financial […]

Tie, Accessories, Accessory

Turkey’s planned inflation-linked bonds could sap deposits

Some banks are concerned that Turkey’s deposit base could decline as investors, eager to protect savings from price rises, snap up the government’s expected inflation-protected bond issuance, officials and bankers say. Given that inflation has soared to 70 percent, the bonds could pull considerable savings from lira and hard currency deposits and even sap the […]