By Andrei Skvarsky. Kuwaiti banks cut investing in public services by 68.8 per cent year-over-year by September 1, a Kuwaiti newspaper said, largely attributing the decline to extensive state control of the public services sector. Kuwait’s banking community put 21.7m dinars ($70.5m) into education, healthcare and other public services in the period from January to… Continue Reading
Category Archives: News
Agency says 25 states in default on sovereign loans from Kuwait
By Andrei Skvarsky. Twenty-five nations are delaying instalment repayments of sovereign loans from Kuwait, having built up arrears totalling 118m Kuwaiti dinars ($380.24m), a Kuwaiti government agency said. Ninety per cent of the sum are the debts of five countries – Syria, Sudan, Yemen, Cuba and North Korea, – Kuwaiti English-language daily Arab Times cited… Continue Reading
QATAR NEWS
Franklin Templeton to manage multi-asset fund launched by Qatar’s Commercial Bank By Andrei Skvarsky. Global asset management firm Franklin Templeton Investments will manage a global sharia-compliant multi-asset retail fund that has been launched by Commercial Bank of Qatar, CBQ said in a statement. According to the statement, the Shariah Global Multi-Asset Fund project is part… Continue Reading
Bahrain FinTech Bay’s buyout by Benefit to merge two key fintech hubs
By Andrei Skvarsky. Two major fintech hubs in Bahrain are going to merge after the buyout of Bahrain FinTech Bay (BFB), the company managing one of them, by Benefit, the firm running the other, under an agreement announced by the two companies in late September. BFB has incubated more than 116 startups since its inception,… Continue Reading
UAE regulator slaps $1.3m fine on forex broker
By Andrei Skvarsky. The United Arab Emirates’ central bank has imposed a fine of 4.8m dirhams ($1.3m) on a foreign exchange broker for “weak” mechanisms to fight money laundering and the financing of terrorism. An inspection showed the exchange house to have “a weak compliance framework regarding the required risk analysis and due… diligence policies… Continue Reading
UAE regulator strikes off forex broker, remittance firm
By Andrei Skvarsky. The United Arab Emirates Central Bank (CBUAE) said on August 9 that it had revoked the licences of foreign exchange broker Dirham Exchange and remittance specialist RMB Commercial Brokers for “serious regulatory misconduct”. The delicensing was a penalty for offences “including AML [anti-money laundering] misconduct”, the CBUAE said in an English-language statement.… Continue Reading
Ministry: Alleged scammers made to pay back Emiratisation allowances
By Andrei Skvarsky. An Emirati ministry said on August 9 that 107 Emiratis were made to pay back an equivalent of a total of $632,700 they were accused of obtaining fraudulently as allowances under the Emiratisation programme, a scheme aiming to promote local talent and skills in a country where expatriates make up 88.5 per… Continue Reading
S. Korea’s MBK Partners creating fund to target China home market
By Andrei Skvarsky. South Korean private equity firm MBK Partners, which has $25.6bn in assets under management, is putting together a 10-trillion-won ($7.6bn) buyout fund to target the Chinese domestic market. MBK co-founder and partner Michael Kim has been in talks with South Korean pension institutions in seeking inputs from them into what would be… Continue Reading
Sotheby’s uses Dubai bourse to unveil arguably unique ruby, diamond
By Andrei Skvarsky. The Dubai Diamond Exchange (DDE) was the venue for the recent unveiling by Sotheby’s of what are considered the largest ruby and the most vivid pink diamond in world auction history and are expected to be offered at a planned Sotheby’s auction in New York on June 8. The 55.22-carat (11.04-gram) Estrela… Continue Reading
India withdrawing 2,000-rupee notes, says they will remain legal tender provisionally
By Andrei Skvarsky. India is withdrawing its 2,000-rupee ($24) note from circulation, but this highest-denomination banknote is going to remain legal tender for four months. The central bank said in a statement on June 19 that the measure is part of its “clean note policy”, a strategy to keep India’s paper cash clean, undamaged and… Continue Reading
Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank to provide numerous services for SMEs in Dubai free-trade zone
By Andrei Skvarsky. Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) and the authority of one of Dubai’s free-trade zones (FTZs) are planning an agreement that would make a wide range of ADIB services available to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) doing business in the zone. The services would include digital solutions tailored to SME needs, ADIB said… Continue Reading
Applying online to speed up account opening at Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank
By Andrei Skvarsky. Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) and an Abu Dhabi government agency are planning a deal to simplify and speed up setting up an account with ADIB for investors and companies by digitising the account application procedure. It would take between three and five business days to open an account with ADIB via… Continue Reading
UAE GDP growth pace doubles in 2022 – central bank
By Andrei Skvarsky. The United Arab Emirates’ central bank estimates that gross domestic product grew by nearly 7.6 per cent in 2022 or at double the 2021 pace, CBUAE said on May 10. Inflation in the UAE closed at 4.8 per cent by the end of 2022 compared with the global average of 8.8 per… Continue Reading
UAE’s GDP doubles since 2006 – PM
The United Arab Emirates’ gross domestic product has doubled over the past 17 years, Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum said. GDP has reached 1.8tn dirhams ($490.1bn) since he became the UAE’s prime minister in February 2006, Sheikh Mohammed, who is also the president of the UAE and ruler of Dubai, was cited by… Continue Reading
UAE payment services firm MBME listed on Abu Dhabi exchange
Emirati payment services provider MBME Group began to trade on April 17 on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), becoming the United Arab Emirates’ first family-owned fintech to list on the bourse, Dubai-based English language daily Khaleej Times said. MBME shares, which were listed on the Growth Market, the ADX platform tailored to privately owned… Continue Reading
Citi: While offering benefits, CBDCs threaten more competition, big brother practices
By Andrei Skvarsky. Citi warns that, along with major technical and social advantages, there are potential serious downsides to central bank digital currencies (CDBCs), an electronic form of national currencies that more than 100 central banks are developing. One problem is that transactions in CBDC may force central banks to compete with private companies that… Continue Reading
UAE steps up involvement in international project to digitise cross-border payments
By Andrei Skvarsky. The central bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) last week took a major formal step in implementing a plan to create a digital version of the dirham and thereby step up the UAE’s role in an international project to digitise international payments. At a ceremony in Abu Dhabi, the CBUAE signed… Continue Reading
Prop trader The Trading Pit makes deal with futures broker Edge Clear
Liechtenstein-headquartered proprietary trader The Trading Pit has announced it has formed a partnership with Chicago-based futures broker Edge Clear. A proprietary (or prop) trader is a bank or financial services company that earns its income by investing its own capital rather than through commission on investing client money. Continue Reading
Central banks of UAE, India to join forces to boost digitalisation
By Andrei Skvarsky. The central banks of the United Arab Emirates and India have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to boost the digitalisation of financial products and services. At the centre of the MoU is a plan to test the cross-border use by the two countries of their developing central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).… Continue Reading
UAE’s Al Ansari Financial Services planning IPO
By Andrei Skvarsky. United Arab Emirates company Al Ansari Financial Services expects to raise about $2m by selling 750m ordinary shares through an initial public offering (IPO) it plans to launch early next month with subscriptions due to start on March 16. The shares, to represent 10 per cent of Al Ansari, will be floated… Continue Reading
Mubadala buying into Truist Insurance Holdings, world’s 7th-largest insurance broker
By Andrei Skvarsky. Mubadala, an Emirati state-owned investment company, has struck a deal with U.S. private equity firm Stone Point Capital and other investors to jointly buy a $1.95bn 20 per cent stake in Truist Insurance Holdings, the world’s seventh-largest insurance broker. Truist Insurance Holdings is valued at $14.75bn by its parent company, investment bank… Continue Reading
UAE’s ADIB bank reports 2022 ROE of 21.4 pc, to pay $462.9m in dividends
By Andrei Skvarsky. Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) has reported robust performance for 2022 with a 21.4 per cent return on equity (ROE), which it called “one of the highest” in the United Arab Emirates’ banking sector, and has approved cash dividends making up nearly half of the bank’s net profit for the year. A… Continue Reading
UAE’s RAKBank to put up to $163m into 4-year diversification strategy
RAKBank, a lender based in the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates, plans to put between 400m and 600m UAE dirhams (between $108.9m and $163.4m) into a four-year strategy to diversify its business, its chief executive said. RAKBank – the trading name of the National Bank of Ras Al Khaimah – is… Continue Reading
EDB bank, Abu Dhabi financial centre admin to help companies get established
By Andrei Skvarsky. The United Arab Emirates’ state-owned Emirates Development Bank (EDB) and the authority of Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), an international financial centre in UAE capital Abu Dhabi, have announced a joint plan to provide better facilities for companies seeking ADGM licensing. EDB and the ADGM authority would provide services such as the… Continue Reading
Dubai’s buy-now-pay-later lender Tabby worth $660m after 3rd-round funding
By Andrei Skvarsky. Tabby, a Dubai-based fintech providing a buy now, pay later (BNPL) service, – making easy-term point-of-sale instalment loans, – has raised $58m in its latest round of funding, which boosted its valuation to $660m. Tabby’s 2022 revenue was five times the sum it made in 2021, the company said in a statement.… Continue Reading
UAE banking sector’s assets hit $986bn mark by end of October – central bank
By Andrei Skvarsky. The total assets of the United Arab Emirates’ banking sector, including bankers’ acceptances, reached AED 3.62tn (about $986bn) by the end of October 2022, having gone up 0.9 per cent month-on-month, the central bank said in a report made public last week. Gross credit rose by 0.2 per cent to AED 1.88tn… Continue Reading
UAE fines companies failing to meet Emiratisation quota
By Andrei Skvarsky. The United Arab Emirates, a country with expatriates making up about 89 per cent of the population, has slapped fines on private companies for failing to meet the 2022 target for hiring Emirati nationals that was part of a 15-year-old policy of promoting the recruitment of Emiratis. A 2022 decree, part of… Continue Reading
India makes three arrests in ICICI Bank fraud probe
By Andrei Skvarsky. India’s top crime detection agency made three arrests late in December in connection with an alleged fraud scheme of over a decade ago in which ICICI Bank, one of the country’s biggest lenders, made loans that ran against its rules and ultimately caused it to suffer heavy losses. One of those arrested… Continue Reading
Bangladeshi expat driver scoops $9.53m bounty in UAE draw
By Andrei Skvarsky. A cash-strapped Bangladeshi working as a pick-up driver in Abu Dhabi became a millionaire instantly on January 4 by winning 35m Emirati dirhams ($9.53m) in a major United Arab Emirates draw, according to Gulf, Bangladeshi and Indian media. Mohammed Rayful, 39,was going to share what was the biggest-ever grand prize in Abu… Continue Reading