Citi has appointed Shamsa Al-Falasi chief executive of Citibank’s onshore branch in the United Arab Emirates and chief administrative officer for all on- and offshore Citi entities in the UAE, Emirati newspapers The National, Gulf News and Khaleej Times and other sources cited Citi as saying. After joining Citi in 2004, Al-Falasi had postings in… 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
EVENTS: Connected Banking Summit Southern Africa, Johannesburg, May 24
The conference will focus on Digital Inclusion and Sustainable Transformation in the south of Africa and take up other matters such as decentralised finance, the zero trust security model, and ESG-compliant business. The forum will bring together banks, non-banking financial organisations, fintechs, investment funds, and asset management companies. It will be the eighth conference in… Continue Reading
Connected Banking Summit East Africa discusses digitalisation, cybersecurity, risk management
Connected Banking Summit East Africa, an international conference in Nairobi, on March 7, brought together numerous banks and financial services companies and addressed issues in fields such as digitalisation, cybersecurity and risk management. The forum was the seventh conference in the Africa-focused Connected Banking Summit series organised by International Center for Strategic Alliances (ICSA), which… 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
EVENTS: Family Office Winter Forum, New York, March 9
The Family Office Winter Forum is a conference in New York on March 9 organised by event management company Opal Group to discuss topics such as family governance, alternative investments and impact investing and hear speakers some of whom are Wall Street’s most sought-after managers and advisers. Only stand-alone speakers will be allowed to use… 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
EVENTS: Four conferences in San Diego on March 6-8
Event management company marcus evans is going to host four invitation-only U.S.-focused financial conferences next month, all of them to be held at the same venue in San Diego, California, and on the same dates, March 6-8, 2023: Venture Capital Investors Summit. The agenda includes opportunities in a “new normal”, ESG-compliant investment, and ways to… Continue Reading
Candriam to hand over the reins to Vincent Hamelink as current CEO moves to NY Life
By Andrei Skvarsky. The role of CEO of global asset manager Candriam is going to pass to the company’s current investment chief Vincent Hamelink from Naim Abou-Jaoude, who is leaving as chief executive for a senior job at U.S. insurer New York Life, Candriam’s parent firm, in a reshuffle to take effect on May 1.… Continue Reading
France’s Carmignac makes two hires to run merger arbitrage funds
By Andrei Skvarsky. Paris-based asset management firm Carmignac has enlarged its alternative investment team by hiring Fabienne Cretin-Fumeron and Stéphane Dieudonné from Candriam, a subsidiary of U.S. insurance company New York Life, as merger arbitrage managers. Cretin-Fumeron and Dieudonné both have 18-year experience in merger arbitrage, also known as risk arbitrage, a risk avoidance investment… Continue Reading
‘GDP’ the least-understood financial term – City Index
By Andrei Skvarsky. Of the multitude of financial terms, “gross domestic product (GDP)” is generally the least-understood one, according to a study by London-based financial services company City Index. Definitions of GDP are on average googled 166,300 times a month and nearly 2m times a year worldwide, City Index said in a statement in citing… Continue Reading
Balyasny Asset Management promotes seven execs to partner role
Chicago-headquartered global firm Balyasny Asset Management (BAM) has made seven additions to its group of partners. All seven joined BAM between 2013 and 2021, according to a statement from the asset management firm. They are: Mayank Chamadia, a portfolio manager and co-head of BAM’s New York office. Chamadia’s pre-BAM career included jobs with Barclays Capital,… 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
EVENTS: Connected Banking East Africa, Nairobi, Kenya, March 7
Connected Banking East Africa, a conference themed “Accelerating Digital Inclusion Through Sustainable Transformation”, is the seventh event in the Africa-focused Connected Banking Summit series organised by the International Center for Strategic Alliances (ICSA), an event management company based in Bengaluru, India. The previous conferences in the series, which is entitled “Africa Digital Banking Summit –… 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
ActivTrades analyst: Jan 2 European share rise may be short-lived
According to an analyst at the ActivTrades global brokerage, it is too early to see a remarkable rise in European shares during this year’s first trading session on January 2 as a stable long-term situation. A “lack of any major macro news” suggests the share price surge with the FTSE 100, EURO DAX 50 and… Continue Reading
Sumsub: Identity fraud in world economy up 50 pct between 2021 and 2022
By Andrei Skvarsky. Global verification statistics published by London-based compliance-as-a-service firm Sumsub late last year suggest that online identity fraud attempts in the world economy grew in number by more than 50 per cent between 2021 and 2022. Sumsub said in a report that 1.7 per cent of millions of verified online transaction attempts or… Continue Reading
Tempo remittance firm to get verification services from Sumsub
By Andrei Skvarsky. Tempo France, a Paris-headquartered digital money transfer company, has become a client of London-based compliance-as-a-service and verification firm Sumsub. Tempo, which is licensed by French financial services regulator ACPR, has gained access to the full range of Sumsub’s know-your-customer and anti-money laundering (KYC/AML) services, according to a statement from the London firm,… Continue Reading