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

Dubai gets nearly $10bn as FDI in 2023

By Andrei Skvarsky. Dubai received $9.77bn in 2023 as foreign direct investment (FDI), the emirate’s Department of Economy and Tourism said. The United States was the source of the largest single proportion – one-fifth – of the amount. British investments made up the second-biggest share, about 9 per cent. India was third with an input of… Continue Reading

Macquarie launches active large-growth ETF on NYSE Arca

By Andrei Skvarsky. Macquarie, a global financial services group, has launched an active large-growth exchange-traded fund (ETF), which began trading on the NYSE Arca exchange in New York on May 15. The Macquarie Focused Large Growth ETF (LRGG ETF) is the fourth active ETF of Macquarie Asset Management, a division of the Sydney-headquartered group. The… Continue Reading

Prop trader The Trading Pit reports two senior departures

By Andrei Skvarsky. Liechtenstein-based financial boutique The Trading Pit, which is part of Estonian private equity fintech Pinorena Capital and specialises in proprietary trading (investing its own capital rather that living off client commissions or fees), has announced top-tier staff departures. Thomas Heyden has resigned as chief executive of The Trading Pit’s Liechtenstein division and… Continue Reading

Janus Henderson buying out Europe-focused ETF provider Tabula

By Andrei Skvarsky. Global asset manager Janus Henderson will acquire Europe-focused exchange-traded fund (ETF) provider Tabula Investment Management, the two companies have announced. Tabula’s arm Tabula Capital is not part of the buyout and will remain a separate entity, Tabula and Janus Henderson said in a joint statement. Janus Henderson expects that, owing to the… Continue Reading

Routing FDI into UK through Guernsey could reverse downward trend – financier

By Andrei Skvarsky. A “unique” relationship to the United Kingdom makes Guernsey, a UK dependency and an international financial centre, an effective channel for foreign direct investment (FDI) into the UK, which is “ever more vital” for its economy but declining, according to a Guernsey-based financier. Guernsey “channels investment into the UK that other international… Continue Reading

AI-powered investment fund launched by UK’s Sanctum

By Andrei Skvarsky. Sanctum, an investment company headquartered in London, has launched an artificial intelligence-powered investment fund. The Financial Science Holdings Limited (FSHL) fund, which is based in Britain’s dependency of Guernsey, uses an algorithmic engine to select undervalued but potentially profitable securities by going through a wide range of data, Guernsey Finance, a British… Continue Reading

Standard Chartered joins Visa payment shortcuts network

By Andrei Skvarsky. Standard Chartered has joined Visa B2B Connect, a cross-border payments network for businesses that the Visa corporation, which runs the system, says can cut settlement times to one or two days from “potentially weeks”. So far Standard Chartered Singapore is the only division of the London-based bank to have joined Visa B2B… Continue Reading

Standard Chartered unit makes ‘strategic’ investment in sharia-compliant fintech

By Andrei Skvarsky. Multinational bank Standard Chartered’s innovation-focused investment unit SC Ventures has made what it called a “strategic” investment in British sharia-compliant financial technology company Algbra. Statements from SC Ventures and Algbra that announced the investment did not provide any details or disclose the terms of the deal. But both statements quoted Algbra chief… Continue Reading

IBKR brokerage to open office in Dubai

By Andrei Skvarsky. U.S.-based electronic financial brokerage Interactive Brokers (IBKR) is planning to open an office in Dubai in a bid to expand its global network to the Middle East, Abu Dhabi-based English-language daily The National said, citing an IBKR spokesperson. The National also quoted an independent source as saying, with reference to an email… Continue Reading

Saudi banks’ net foreign assets at $15.84bn by February – central bank

By Andrei Skvarsky. The net foreign assets of Saudi Arabia’s commercial banks stood at 59.41bn riyals ($15.84bn) by February 2024, a Saudi newspaper said on April 11, citing the country’s central bank (SAMA). The Saudi banks’ gross foreign assets grew 22 per cent year on year by February, reaching $92.7bn, but their foreign liabilities rocketed… Continue Reading

Key global banks among arrangers of $1.16bn Africa loan

By Andrei Skvarsky. Société Générale, Standard Chartered and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporaton (SMBC) were among banks that have arranged a $1.16bn syndicated loan for Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) in a United Arab Emirates project aiming to give a boost to African economies. The total amount to be raised was initially set at $1bn but was… Continue Reading

Uzum becomes Uzbekistan’s first tech start-up valued at over $1bn

By Andrei Skvarsky. Uzum, an Uzbek provider of digital services including e-commerce and online banking, has become Uzbekistan’s first technology start-up with a value of more than $1bn through a recent round of financing. Uzum raised $114m in a combination of Series A funding, which was led by Bengaluru-based venture capital firm FinSight Ventures, and… Continue Reading

Arab Energy Fund reports highest annual income in half-century existence

By Andrei Skvarsky. The Arab Energy Fund (TAEF), an energy-focused financial services company formerly known as APICORP, has reported that in 2023 it earned what has been its highest net annual income in its half-century existence, $225m. The amount was 51 per cent up on 2022, the Riyadh-headquartered multinational company, which follows environmental, social and… Continue Reading

Dubai hosts outsourcing event for Uzbekistan

DUBAI, UAE, February 16, 2024 (IT Park, Uzbekistan) – On February 15th, the Uzbekistan Outsourcing Conference in Dubai was held with great success, organized by the Ministry of Digital Technologies of the Republic of Uzbekistan and IT Park. The event proved to be a significant gathering, hosting over 100 leading experts and members of the… Continue Reading

Optima compliance advisory firm hires ex-SEC official Michele Foldenauer as a director

By Andrei Skvarsky. Financial regulatory compliance advisory firm Optima Partners has hired Michele Foldenauer, a former senior official at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as a director. Foldenauer will focus on hedge funds, private equity funds, investment advisers, broker-dealers and global financial services firms, corporate communication company PRNewswire cited Optima as saying. Immediately… Continue Reading