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Banking & Finance

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

Sovereign funds struggle to channel trillions into climate finance

Sovereign wealth funds that control nearly $12 trillion in assets are unlikely to quickly dismantle the hurdles in the way of urgently needed increases to their climate investments, even as Cop28 talks seek to close the funding gap. Funds such as those of Norway and the UAE Cop28 host, face obstacles including mandates that require […]

Clothing, Shorts, City

Late-year flurry could boost the sukuk market

Sukuk issuance fell in the first nine months of 2023 – but this year’s total could yet equal that of 2022, Fitch Ratings’ Islamic finance chief told AGBI.  Gulf governments and corporations are issuing sharia-compliant bonds to diversify their funding and ease their reliance on bank borrowing. Sukuk were developed as an alternative to conventional […]

Egyptian billionaire moves family office to Abu Dhabi

Egyptian billionaire Nassef Sawiris is moving his family office to Abu Dhabi, as global investors choose the emirate as a key hub for their operations, Bloomberg reported. Sawiris intends to re-domicile NNS Group in the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), an international financial centre, subject to regulatory approval, Bloomberg reported. Sawiris, Egypt’s wealthiest man, has […]

UK citizen Sanjay Shah has been extradited to Denmark’s security mission after a Dubai court decision

UAE extradites Sanjay Shah to Denmark over tax fraud  

The UAE on Wednesday ordered the extradition of Sanjay Shah, a UK citizen, to Denmark to face charges of massive tax fraud and money laundering. Shah was extradited to Denmark’s security mission following a decision by Dubai’s Court of Cassation, the UAE state-run Wam news agency reported. The UAE justice minister has also approved the […]

Turkey’s central bank increased the inflation forecast for 2023 to 65 percent from its previous estimate of 58 percent

Turkey’s total reserves reach record high of $140bn

The Turkish central bank’s total reserves have jumped to a record level exceeding $140 billion, five bankers’ calculations showed on Tuesday, sustaining an uptrend after it adopted more orthodox policies following May elections. The rising reserves, alongside 3,150 basis points in interest rate hikes since June, have marked a departure from years of unorthodox and […]

Qatar to sell $644m worth of shares in Barclays

Qatar Holding is looking to sell around £510 million ($643.72 million) of shares in Barclays, one of the banks acting on the deal said on Monday, cutting back on its crisis-era investment in the British bank. The deal is set to price at 141 pence per share, or a discount of about 1.4 percent to […]

The UAE bankruptcy law seeks to 'strike a balance between the rights of creditors and the interests of debtors'

UAE sets up bankruptcy court to rule on disputes

The UAE is overhauling its bankruptcy and restructuring law, introducing a specialist court to oversee disputes. The legislation – formally Federal Law Decree No 51 of 2023 – comes into force on May 1, 2024, and replaces the 2016 bankruptcy framework. It will emphasise the importance of amicable resolutions, broadening the scope for debtors to […]

Dubai Islamic Bank is among major UAE banks that have increased green financing commitments, but fossil fuel finance is more complex Video length: 06:23

How banks are navigating fossil fuel financing

Banks are navigating a complex battleground over fossil fuel phase-out: deciding whether or not to fund companies in oil and gas and other high-emitting sectors, they told a Dubai event staged in parallel with the Cop28 summit.  The chief executive of ING, the Netherlands’ biggest retail bank, said the company had stopped providing dedicated finance […]

The group of UAE banks will increase financing for new innovations, ecosystem restoration and biodiversity preservation

UAE banks to increase green financing to $272bn

Major national banks in the UAE are to boost their green financing commitments, aiming to exceed a collective AED1 trillion ($272 billion), sources have told AGBI. The banks aim to accelerate financing in areas such as assisting businesses in transitioning to zero carbon emissions, particularly in harder to abate and small and medium-sized enterprise sectors.  […]

The UAE is proving attractive to blockchain companies

Tax-friendly UAE beckons blockchain businesses 

The UAE is becoming a preferred destination for blockchain technology companies, ranking third globally as a crypto centre, according to a survey. Immigration consultancy Henley & Partners used six criteria to arrive at a global ranking and placed Singapore first because of its government’s close cooperation with banks, businesses and the public in developing its […]

Jordan's Al Karamah Dam, shrunk by drought. US fund manager BlackRock sees investment opportunities in tech to improve water systems and other infrastructure

BlackRock targets ‘repair and prepare’ climate investments

BlackRock, one of the largest fund managers in the world, has identified investment opportunities in companies that are preparing for or repairing climate-related damage. UAE President Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed has also announced that the government is to launch a $30 billion climate-related investment fund with asset management companies BlackRock, TPG and Brookfield announced as inaugural […]

Total Gulf deposits with Egypt's central bank stood at $29.9 billion as of March 2023

UAE extends $1bn deposit with Egypt until 2026

The UAE has renewed its $1 billion deposit with the Central Bank of Egypt for an additional three years. The deposit, which matured in June this year, has been extended until June 2026, Egypt Today newspaper reported, citing a central bank report. Deposits of Arab countries with the central bank accounted for more than half […]

Pakistan's finance minister Ishaq Dar. The Saudi deposit into Pakistan’s central bank is intended to strengthen the country's economy

Saudi Arabia extends term of $3bn deposit to Pakistan

The Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) has extended the period for its deposit of $3 billion to Pakistan for another year. The agreement, signed in 2021, was rolled over in 2022, the State Bank of Pakistan said in a statement. The deposit into Pakistan’s central bank was intended to boost its foreign exchange reserves and […]

Turkey inflation

Turkey says interest rate hikes ‘cooled’ inflation

Turkey’s interest rate hikes have helped lower inflation expectations and improved visibility on prices, attracting Western fund inflows that have boosted depleted FX reserves, central bank governor Hafize Gaye Erkan said on Wednesday. Interest in Turkish lira deposit accounts and assets has increased since June, Erkan told the Istanbul Chamber of Industry, after years of […]

City, Metropolis, Urban

Brevan Howard to double Abu Dhabi headcount

Brevan Howard, one of the world’s biggest hedge funds with assets exceeding $33 billion, is to double its workforce in Abu Dhabi next year. The UK company initiated its Middle East expansion by opening an office in Abu Dhabi Global Market in February, joining an increasing number of hedge funds drawn to the region’s substantial […]

Saudi Arabian billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal

Kingdom Holding ups stake in Citigroup with Alwaleed deal

Kingdom Holding Company has increased its investment in Citigroup after buying a $450 million stake from its Saudi Arabian billionaire chairman, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal. The deal has raised Kingdom’s stake to 2.2 percent from 1.63 percent, according to a filing on the Saudi Stock Exchange on Wednesday. The company did not disclose any further […]

Samir Assaf, Mena chairman at General Atlantic, said the company is preparing 'three or four more investments' in the region

US private equity giant General Atlantic opens Gulf offices

Global private equity firm General Atlantic, which manages $77 billion in assets, is opening offices in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. The company has been investing in the Middle East since 2015 without a local base, but is now establishing a stronger foothold as it nears the completion of new investment deals in the region. […]

The currency swap agreement between China and the UAE has a nominal value of $4.9bn for the next five years

UAE and China renew $4.9bn currency swap deal

The UAE and China have renewed their currency swap agreement to settle cross-border financial and trade transactions in local currencies. The Central Bank of the UAE and the People’s Bank of China signed a currency swap agreement with a nominal value of AED18 billion ($4.9 billion) for the next five years, UAE state-owned Wam news […]

Saudi Arabia's PIF bought its stake in London Heathrow airport from Spanish infrastructure major Ferrovial

PIF buys 10% stake in UK’s Heathrow airport

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) will acquire a 10 percent stake in the parent company of London Heathrow, the UK’s busiest airport. Spanish infrastructure major Ferrovial will sell its entire 25 percent stake in FGP Topco for £2.37 billion ($3.01 billion), the company said in a statement. Paris-based private equity fund Ardian will buy the remaining […]

Aster expects the sale of its GCC business to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2024

Aster DM to sell majority stake in Gulf business for $1bn

UAE-based hospital chain Aster DM Healthcare will sell a majority stake in its Gulf business to a regional consortium for $1 billion as part of a plan to separate the unit from its Indian operations. A consortium led by state-backed Fajr Capital will own 65 percent of the Gulf business, while Azad Moopen, the founder […]

Turkey interest rates

Turkey’s total reserves hit record high $137bn

The Turkish central bank’s total reserves rose $2 billion last week to a record of $136.5 billion, five bankers’ calculations showed on Tuesday, sustaining an uptrend after it adopted more orthodox monetary policy since June. The central bank has raised interest rates by 3,150 basis points since June, when President Tayyip Erdogan appointed former Wall […]