Bangladesh gets $2bn from migrants as remittances in August, YoY increase of 39% – agency

By Andrei Skvarsky. Bangladesh received more than $2bn as remittances from Bangladeshi migrants abroad in August, according to one of the country’s main news agencies, which said such remittances represent an “upward trend” and a process backed by Bangladesh’s hcentral bank. The central bank, Bangladesh Bank, has taken various measures to boost remittances in a… Continue Reading

African Development Bank carries out senior staff reshuffle

By Andrei Skvarsky. The African Development Bank has announced a series of high-level staff moves made over the past few months, with Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade appointed senior vice-president of the AfDB among other nominations. Akin-Olugbade, who is Cameroonian, was vice-president for regional development before her new appointment. About half the appointments filled regional roles, according to… Continue Reading

Africa Finance Corporation’s new $500m Eurobond oversubscribed heavily

By Andrei Skvarsky. Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), a multinational development institution, has issued a $500m Eurobond in a project coordinated by a bank consortium consisting of Bank of America, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs among others. The benchmark five-year bond with a coupon of 5.55 per cent, listed on the London Stock Exchange and Euronext Dublin,… Continue Reading

Islamic Development Bank unit to help Azerbaijan enhance Islamic insurance

By Andrei Skvarsky. ICIEC, the investment insurance unit of the Saudi-based multinational Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), has pledged itself to helping enhance Islamic insurance in Azerbaijan under a September 30 memorandum of understanding. ICIEC’s MoU with the central bank of the predominantly Muslim ex-Soviet republic would underlie a deal to involve activities such as trainings,… Continue Reading

Bangladeshi ‘bank for the poor’ Grameen has new chairman, Abdul Hannan Chowdhury

By Andrei Skvarsky. The post of chairman of Grameen Bank, a Bangladeshi state-owned microfinance lender set up as a poverty reduction vehicle four decades ago by Muhammad Yunus, an economist and politician who heads Bangladesh’s current interim government, has passed over to university professor Abdul Hannan Chowdhury. Chowdhury, a professor at the School of Business… Continue Reading

Macquarie buys hyperscale data centre in S. Korea

By Andrei Skvarsky. Macquarie Asset Management, part of Australian financial services company Macquarie Group, has agreed to buy a hyperscale data centre with a capacity of 40 megawatts in South Korea. The agreed sale price is 734bn won ($530m) but presumed inputs into transaction procedures and mechanical, electrical and plumbing works that Hanam Data Centre… Continue Reading

Saudi, Chinese financial sectors preparing $50bn project

By Andrei Skvarsky. Saudi Arabia’s PIF sovereign wealth fund has signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with five major Chinese banks and China’s export and credit insurance agency in laying the basis for a project of up to $50bn to involve debt and equity transactions. The project would consist of deals addressing “areas such as two-way… Continue Reading

Saudi Arabia tells investors Tabuk region needs $13.3bn

By Andrei Skvarsky. A large-scale development programme launched by Saudi Arabia for its Tabuk region offers investment opportunities estimated at $13.3bn, the country’s investment minister said. Investment projects for Tabuk run through a range of sectors, including agriculture, renewable energy, petrochemicals, education and biotechnology, Saudi English-language daily Arab News cited Khalid Al-Falih as telling a… Continue Reading

UAE’s ADCB to set up Islamic banking hub for Central Asia

By Andrei Skvarsky. Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank is planning to boost the role of its Kazakhstan subsidiary Al Hilal Islamic Bank by making it a hub for corporate Islamic banking services for the whole of Central Asia in stepping up what ADCB calls its “strategic presence” in the region. Concurrently, ADCB will phase out retail… Continue Reading

Jersey’s Crestbridge makes top hires for compliance, client, HR services

Jersey-based Crestbridge Family Office Services has made top-tier hires for its compliance, client and human resources services. Simon Logan, who has served at Jersey’s financial sector regulator and the island’s tax office, was recruited as head of risk and compliance, according to information on Crestbridge’s website and a statement by the Channel Eye news service.… Continue Reading

Oak Group hires chief operating officer, promotes 11 pct of staff

By Andrei Skvarsky. Channel Islands-based financial services company Oak Group has hired a new chief operating officer and promoted 11 per cent of its staff, about half of them compliance specialists. The work record of David Ainger, the new COO, includes jobs at information technology services companies Logica and Accenture. A statement from Oak credited… Continue Reading

Guernsey Finance appoints rep for northern England

Guernsey Finance, a promotional agency for the financial services industry of Britain’s self-governing dependency of Guernsey, has hired brand marketing specialist Rowan Stone for its newly established position of representative for northern England. Stone will focus on business development and address issues of investment funds, private wealth, insurance and pensions. He “has worked with international… Continue Reading

RenCap expects Russia’s GDP to grow 2.7 pct YoY in 2024

By Andrei Skvarsky. Russian investment bank Renaissance Capital expects Russia to end 2024 with 2.7 per cent year-on-year economic growth, 5.7 per cent annual inflation and a relatively stable rouble, the institution’s chief economist has said. The rouble, which stands at around 90 to the U.S. dollar today, is likely to edge down to about… Continue Reading

Abu Dhabi simplifying licensing for expat businesses

By Andrei Skvarsky. Abu Dhabi has launched an initiative to simplify its registration rules for expat businesses by replacing the current range of licence types with a single standard type, the Unified Economic Licence, in a measure seen as instrumental for the emirate’s free zones. Abu Dhabi’s five free zones, which represent a variety of… Continue Reading

ANZ warns of payment scams after Australians lost nearly $100m in 2023

By Andrei Skvarsky. Australia’s ANZ bank issued a warning last week about so-called payment redirection scams, a form of fraud that has cost Australians tens of millions of dollars lost to computer hackers who rerouted the money via fake bills. In 2023 Australians had AU$91.6m (equivalent to the amount in U.S. dollars that year) stolen… Continue Reading