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Institute unveils policy format for enhanced investor protection

Amid low levels of trust in the financial industry and concerns over product mis-selling, a new CFA Institute report aims to improve transparency and investor protection by examining disclosures on costs, performance, and risks associated with packaged retail investment products (PRIPs) Packaged Retail Investment Products: Investor Disclosure Considerations for a Key Information Document, informs the EU policy debate and the draft regulation on PRIPs from the investor [...]

Etisalat, Vivendi talks on Maroc stake extended

Exclusive talks for Etisalat to buy Vivendi's 53 percent stake in Maroc Telecom have been extended to October 31, the United Arab Emirates' former telecom monopoly said on Sunday. Vivendi in July entered into exclusive negotiations with Etisalat - the UAE's No.1 telecom operator - to sell its majority holding stake in Maroc Telecom for 3.9 billion euros ($5.28 billion) in cash. The previous deadline for these [...]

Locally performed procedure opens new era in cardiac treatment

Doctors at RAK Hospital marked the opening of a new era of intervention in congenital heart disease for this part of the world by carrying out an Atrial Septal Defect (ASD)   Closure without surgical intervention on a young adult by the technique of Device closure ASD device (Amplatzer septal occluder) is a relatively new non-surgical technique used to treat patients with atrial septal defect in which patients [...]

iPhone crowds signal record debut for new handsets

Apple Inc. is poised to announce record opening-weekend sales as throngs of excited customers waited through long lines in Sydney, Tokyo, London and San Francisco to pick up the latest iPhones. Sales for the iPhone 5s and 5c started yesterday with crowds in Sydney and extended through stores in the U.S., Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore and the U.K. In London, the [...]

Singapore steps up scrutiny of Indian bank branches

Singapore regulators have stepped up their scrutiny of some local branches of Indian banks on concerns about asset quality, three bank executives told Reuters. India's slowest economic growth in a decade and a weakened rupee have weighed on the balance sheets of heavily leveraged Indian companies, including those that have raised money from Indian lenders in offshore centres such as Singapore. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) [...]

Internet experts want web security rules re-written

Internet security experts are calling for a campaign to rewrite Web security in the wake of disclosures that the U.S. National Security Agency has developed the capability to break encryption protecting millions of sites. But they acknowledged the task won't be easy, in part because internet security has relied heavily on brilliant government scientists who now appear suspect to many. Leading technologists said they felt betrayed that [...]

Rajan brings stature to Indian central bank

India’s newly installed central bank Governor Raghuram Rajan burnished his international credentials at a 2005 U.S. conference warning about the danger of a potential crisis. Now he has one of his own to contend with. Rajan, 50, joined the front lines of a battle to forestall a record slump in the rupee yesterday with a package of measures that may lure $10 billion in foreign-exchange inflows over [...]

Dubai in the midst of another boom, says StanChart

Residential property prices in Dubai are in the midst of another boom, but this time it's fundamentals - and not speculation - at play, Standard Chartered Bank said in a new report, indicating that the rally will continue as long as the fundamentals remain in place. Economic growth, improving demographics, return of investor confidence and improving regulations have been cited as the primary factors fuelling a remarkable [...]

US stocks beat BRICs amidst market flight

Investors are favoring U.S. stocks over emerging markets by the most ever as fund flows and volatility measures show institutions are increasingly seeking the relative safety of American equities. Almost $95 billion was poured into exchange-traded funds of American shares this year, while developing-nation ETFs saw withdrawals of $8.4 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX) trades at 16 times [...]

Ubuntu Edge Smartphone Fails To Hit Ambitious $32M Crowdfunding Target

NATASHA LOMAS - Trying to raise $32 million via crowdfunding always looked overly ambitious. And indeed it has proved to be so. Canonical’s Ubuntu Edge Indiegogo campaign to build a smartphone designed for converged computing has fallen considerably short of its target, ending with the fixed funding project receiving nothing at all — which, when you’ve got pledges worth around $12 million, has got to hurt. The campaign ran from July [...]

GCC states to standardize medicine prices

A mechanism to standardize medicine prices in member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is expected to be put in place by November ahead of a meeting of Gulf Health Ministers early next year to endorse the price list. The entire scheme is aimed at reducing and maintaining uniform prices of medicines and profit margins. Dr. Fahad Al-Dosari, head of medicinal pricing at the executive office [...]

Saudi bank deposits hit record SR1.36 trillion in Q1

Saudi bank deposits posted a new record of SR1.36 trillion by the end of first quarter of 2013. The expansion in credit portfolios was facilitated by this enormous depositary base. Demand deposits remain the main beneficiary given the globally suppressed interest rate environment, according to a report by the National Commercial Bank (NCB). NCB's customer deposits, the largest in the market, reached SR276.7 billion in March 2013 [...]

Consolidation barriers add to risk of default for GCC insurers: S&P

A small number of well-established insurers are reaping the benefits of the fast-growing insurance markets in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said in a review. Meanwhile, inflated valuations and a reluctance to relinquish control are preventing smaller insurers from consolidating. In trying to avoid reporting losses, we believe revenue-starved insurers could distort market pricing for all. Insurance in the GCC region continues [...]

New Saudi moves to woo foreign investment

Saudi Arabia is currently working to develop its trade and investment laws with the intent of wooing more foreign direct investments and settling disputes between foreign investors and their local partners. Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), the country's investment facilitator, spearheads the move by adding some points of explanation in the current law in addition to putting a set of new conditions. The Kingdom encourages successful [...]

Dubai attracts AED53b real estate investments in first half

The Dubai Land Department has announced that funds invested in the emirates’ real estate market has reached Dh53 billion, with Emiratis ranking highest among Gulf investors with Dh12 billion in spending. A break-down of the investment shows that Arab investors contributed to approximately Dh5 billion — a 111 per cent increase in spending, other Gulf nationals (including those from the UAE) to over Dh16 billion — a [...]

Saudi Arabia awards $22.5b metro contracts

Riyadh (Reuters): The Saudi Arabian government awarded $22.5 billion (Dh82.6 billion) in contracts to three foreign-led consortia on Sunday for the design and construction of the first metro rail system in the capital, Riyadh. The project, which will involve six rail lines extending 176 kilometres and carrying electric, driverless trains, is the world’s largest public transport system currently under development, Saudi officials said. US construction giant Bechtel [...]