|By Arabian Post Staff|Saudi Arabia’s freezing of bank accounts is credit negative for banks, Moody’s said in a review. On 8 November, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) froze a large number of bank accounts belonging to princes, ministers and businessmen who were arrested as part of an investigation by a new anti-corruption committee that began on 4 November. The rating agency said these actions are credit […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| In a major endorsement to Saudi economic reforms initiated by Crown Prince Mohammad Salman, a top executive of American financial giant Bank of America Merrill Lynch said Saudi Arabia’s economic transformation will be “unstoppable” and there has already been a positive shift in the Kingdom’s business culture. Hootan Yazhari, managing director of the bank’s Dubai-based research department, said there are key moves being […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| An estimated $100 billion has been involved in the systematic corruption and embezzlement |that plagued Saudi Arabia over several decades, Saud Al Mojeb, the kingdom’s Attorney General and member of the Supreme Anti-Corruption Committee, announced. The disclosure came in a statement on the status of the anti-corruption proceedings, which are moving forward There is strong evidence that confirms initial suspicions, which led Saudi […]
|By K Raveendran| The arrest of wealthy Saudi prince Al Waleed, whose investments ranging from Citibank to Apple to Twitter, making him the most high profile Arab investor on the global stage, may involve more than internal power struggle within the Saudi ruling establishment and the new Crown Prince’s spirited fight against corruption. Al Waleed may have paid a heavy price for his spat with Donald Trump […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| In an unprecedented move against corruption at high places Saudi Arabia’s King Salman removed the chief of the National Guard,along with 10 other princes, and replaced the the Economy Minister. The king also constituted anti-corruption panel, headed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to prevent corrupt practices by those in the authority. Al-Arabiya news channel reported that 11 princes and dozens of former […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Abraaj Group, the emerging markets-focused private-equity firm, is delaying the initial public offering of South African food and household products maker Libstar Holdings Ltd., reports quoting people familiar with the matter said. The firm had been working with JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Standard Bank Group Ltd. on a sale expected to raise about $300 million, aaccordding to these reports. Abraaj, which bought […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Emaar Development said on Thursday it plans to price its initial public offering in between Dh5.7 to Dh6.9, thereby valuing the company at Dh25.2 billion. The company plans to offer 800 million shares or 20 per cent of the share capital, it said in an emailed statement.The final price will be announced on November 16, and the shares will be listed on the […]
|By Matein Khalid|Emaar Properties will sell 20% of its UAE development portfolio in an initial public offering in November. This is the first IPO in the UAE capital markets in the last three years and follows bellwether offerings such as Emaar Malls and Emaar Misr. Emaar’s Dubai development’s adjusted net value is 24.1 UAE dirhams and I would not be surprised if the post IPO revalues the […]
The IMF recently upgraded the global growth outlook for 2018, and the oil price is trading at its highest levels since 2015. These are both positive developments for the UAE economy, which is expected to see an uptick in growth in 2018. But will this be the beginning of a sustained period of growth, or will it just be a rebound from the recent slump in growth? […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| National Bank of Ras Al Khaimah (RAKBank) Group said the bank’s profit for the third quarter more than doubled to Dh224.8 million, compared to the previous period and recorded all-round improvement in its 9 months performance, achieving a growth of 9.4 per cent in the consolidated net profit of Dh606.3 million. Gross loans and advances stood at Dh32.6 billion as of 30 September […]
|By Arabian Post Staff|Saudi Arabia is holding one of its most important investment summits ever, named the Future Investment Initiative (FII), considered to be game-changing forum in Riyadh. The landmark event is being attended by more than 2,500 delegates and internationally-renowned business and investment leaders from over 60 countries. The three-day event will explore new trends, opportunities, challenges and emerging industries that will shape the world economy and […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank reported net profit of AED 3.206 billion for the nine month period ended 30 September 2017. The figure was 2% higher than the the previous level. Total net interest income and Islamic financing income of AED 4.983 billion was up 8% while operating income of AED 6.585 billion was up 4%, and operating expenses of AED 2.147 billion was […]
|By Arabian Post Staff|The National Commercial Bank announced that net income for the nine months of 2017 reached SAR 7,246 million compared to SAR 7,030 million for the same period of the previous year, an increase of 3.1%. NCB’s net profit for the third quarter reached SAR 2,126 million compared to SAR 1,962 million for the same quarter of the previous year, an increase of 8.4%. NCB […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Emaar Properties announced an IPO, offering 20 per cent of Emaar Development, the company’ development unit to investors. The size off the IPO size is lower than what the market had anticipated, which was at least 10 percent higher. The listing will take place in November on the Dubai Financial Market. “The IPO of our UAE development business will allow potential investors an […]
|By Arabian Post Staff|Trading conditions for smaller community and regional centres and non-mall retail formats have become more testing, according to the Q3 2017 Dubai MarketView by global real estate consultancy firm CBRE. As a result, retailers are increasingly looking for flexibility from landlords to help soften the impact of changes in sales volumes. But development activity across the retail sector remains buoyant with approximately 1.0 million […]
|By Matein Khalid| Jamie Dimon, the unanointed king of Wall Street and chief executive of New York banking colossus J.P. Morgan did not mince his words. He called Bitcoin “a fraud”, a speculative bubble comparable to the Dutch tulip mania of the seventeenth century and declared he would fire any trader at his bank trading in the cryptocurrency “in a second” for “stupidity”. This has only reinforced the […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| A high-level meeting of the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF), International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, in collaboration with the Financial Stability Board (FSB on the Withdrawal of Correspondent Banking Relationships (CBRs) in the Arab region has highlighted the importance of initiatives aimed at addressing compliance costs and profitability considerations to deal with the situation. These initiatives could cover areas such as […]
|By Arabian Post Staff|The Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB ) announcement of new Shari’ah governance regulations applicable to wholesale and retail Islamic banks in Bahrain are a positive development, Moody’s said in a report. Effective June 2018, the new regulations will make Islamic banks subject to an Independent External Shari’ah Compliance Audit, to ensure that all Islamic banks activities are Shari’ah compliant. Additionally, all internal Shari’ah board […]
|By F R Chowdhury| Myanmar (previously known as Burma) is a vast country of 676,550 sq. km. or 261,217 sq. miles on the north-east coast of Bay of Bengal. Basically it is between Bangladesh and Thailand though it has also long common border with India and China. Its population is only about 49 million. Majority are Buddhists. Next large population is ethnic Bengali Muslims and a small percentage […]
|By Arabian Post Staff|New issues for the remainder of 2017 are estimated to be in excess of USD 20 billion, as a result of favourable market conditions, according to Fisch Asset Management. An encouraging landscape for new bond issuances in the GCC will likely see a USD sovereign deal between Saudi and Bahrain, while Oman is anticipated to confirm new issues, depending on the size of deficits. […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| With so many companies facing debt write-offs and bankruptcy, a provision in the UAE VAT tax law is likely to become a key focus in the days to come. And this provision relates to relief that will be available for debts written off by VAT registered businesses in certain circumstances. To what extent this will help companies in trouble or whether it will […]
|By Matein Khalid| Trump’s post Charlottesville remarks, the Barcelona terrorist attacks and Cisco’s results unnerved the US stock market bulls last week. Friday was a surreal moment in the history of Wall Street. It was entirely rational for traders on the New York Stock Exchange floor to cheers and the Dow Jones Index rise 150 points when news broke that Trump had fired his alt-right, white nationalist chief strategist […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| SHUAA Capital, the UAE’s premier integrated financial services firm, announced it has entered into an agreement with Integrated Financial Group (IFG), towards the acquisition of Integrated Capital and Integrated Securities. The signing of the agreement follows the completion of the due-diligence process initiated in March. The strategic acquisition, which remains subject to regulatory approvals, of two of the UAE’s most active and successful financial […]
|By Saifur Rahman| As many as 1.43 million bank cheques – worth Dh75.77 billion (US$20.64 billion) – out of 31.36 million issued in 2016 were returned, according to the UAE Central Bank. On an average, each bounced cheque carried a sum of Dh52,732. The number of cheques placed with banks averaged 2.61 million per month, or nearly 85,933 per day. The total amount of money involved in 31.36 million […]
