The Floating Cinema drops anchor on the Grand Union Canal at King’s Cross, London Photo: HYDAR DEWACHI ‘It’s really captured people’s imagination,” enthuse producer Anna Ramsay and curator Laura Harford as they sit on the deck of the Floating Cinema, their 60ft wide-beam canal boat fitted out as a mini-Odeon. “I think it’s because it’s something so unusual, not at all what they expect to see on a […]
A revival of international bond issues from the Gulf is set to draw heavy demand from local and foreign investors, despite the latest geopolitical upheavals in the Middle East and the approach of higher U.S. interest rates. Gulf bond issuance has dried up since early July, because of a traditional summer lull in local investor activity as well as global market instability due to the crisis in […]
MUMBAI: Deposit growth at Indian banks has picked up pace after remaining subdued for two consecutive months. Latest data from the RBI show that bank deposits rose close to 14% yearon-year in the fortnight to August 8 as investments in mutual fund products flowed to term deposits. A strong deposit growth may encourage banks to lower deposit rates and may, subsequently, lead to lower lending rates, too. […]
Small- and medium-sized enterprises, in particular in a growth market like the United Arab Emirates, have traditionally had a tougher time securing loans from banks who perceive them as less transparent and therefore as more risky and costly to do business with. Nevertheless, as this category of companies constitutes a large chunk of the U.A.E. economy, interest from both local and international lenders has been on the […]
QATAR. International food prices have been declining in recent months, reflecting record harvests and weak global demand. Declining food prices have in turn contributed to lower inflation in the Eurozone, the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US). This trend, coupled with a weak Eurozone recovery and mixed economic data in the US, suggests that the risk of global deflation remains high. As such, we expect […]
SAUDI ARABIA. Saudi Arabia set out draft proposals on foreign-shareholder limits as one of the world’s most restricted stock markets prepares to open its doors for the first time to investors outside the region. The Capital Market Authority may cap foreign ownership of a single stock to 49 percent, it said in plans posted on the Riyadh-based regulator’s website today. It may also set a 5 percent […]
A broker monitors stock prices on a screen at the Saudi Investment Bank in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia plans to open its stock market, the Arab world’s biggest, to direct investment by foreign financial institutions in the first half of next year. Reuters The Wall Street Journal lists the top 10 companies by market value that might interest foreign investors once the market is opened up for direct […]
DUBAI—Saudi Arabia’s regulator on Thursday issued a set of draft rules for foreigners ahead of the long-awaited opening of its $580 billion stock market to international investors next year. The Capital Markets Authority said a qualified foreign investor must be a bank, brokerage, fund manager or insurance company with at least $5 billion in assets under management, a requirement aimed at attracting more stable and experienced institutional […]
The execution of U.S. journalist James Foley by someone with a British accent has sparked soul-searching in the U.K. as to how and why the country has become an exporter of extremists to the Middle East. Prime Minister David Cameron vowed to redouble efforts to stop radicalized Britons traveling to Iraq and Syria to “take part in extremism and violence.” “The fundamental problem is as long as […]
By Orange Peel Investments: The news today was that Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) came up with $16.65 billion to resolve the biggest liability having to do with the subprime crisis from 2008. It’s the end of a process that has been a dark cloud hanging over the head of Bank of America since they made a proper mess out of the Countrywide deal; widely regarded as one […]
KOLKATA/BANGALORE: The Reserve Bank of India moved to close a loophole on Friday, saying that the rules need to be followed with respect to e-commerce credit card transactions “essentially taking place between two residents in India”. This means that companies such as Uber will need to follow the two-step authentication process that it was able to circumvent by virtue of having an overseas payment gateway. Its rivals […]
Most of the rest of the world is horrified that so much British ice cream is made up of vegetable fat and air Photo: REX FEATURES The Ice Cream War was one of Scotland’s most notorious criminal cases. It involved two rival Glasgow families using ice cream vans to sell drugs and stolen goods in the Eighties. The vicious turf war culminated in arson and murder. Now, a […]
Saudi Arabia set out draft proposals on foreign-shareholder limits as one of the world’s most restricted stock markets prepares to open its doors for the first time to investors outside the region. The Capital Market Authority may cap foreign ownership of a single stock to 49 percent, it said in plans posted on the Riyadh-based regulator’s website today. It may also set a 5 percent limit for […]
Switzerland’s Bank Sarasin mis-sold $200 million of investment products to Kuwait’s prominent Khorafi family, a court at Dubai’s financial centre found on Thursday in a ruling that could set a precedent for similar disputes in the region. The Dubai International Financial Centre’s (DIFC) Court of First Instance ordered Sarasin to pay compensation in what may be one of the biggest awards in the 10-year history of the […]
MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank of India proposes to cut banks’ group exposure limit by as much as 15 percentage points to reduce the systemic risk posed by lending too much to any single business house. This means that credit to any particular group will have to be restricted to 25% of a bank’s capital, down from 40% now. It’s not clear whether such a move will have […]
MUMBAI: The finance ministry will back lenders in changing management of companies that wilfully default, tweak the rules of appointment of public sector bank chiefs, and make sure that bankers are not victimised. “A bona fide decision can also go wrong…we can’t penalise a person for that. He has to be protected. Otherwise, no one will take decisions. So, we will protect the person where there […]
Two moves by the government will significantly impact India’s banking segment— a decision to amend the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (SARFAESI) Act, 2002, during the Winter Session of Parliament to allow banks to take charge of companies that wilfully default on loan repayment and second, a plan to put in place a holding company structure for public sector banks. The […]
People walk near The Gate building at the financial and business district Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC) in Dubai. Reuters Dubai’s financial hub is growing up. Since it was established a decade ago, the Dubai International Financial Centre has become the number one choice in the Middle East for many of the world’s leading banks, law firms, asset managers and insurers from where to conduct their regional […]
Topaz website For proof that a rising tide doesn’t lift all boats look no further than Dubai’s Topaz Energy and Marine. In the dark days following the global recession it scrapped a planned $500 million London IPO in 2011 that valued the company between $1.6 billion and $1.9 billion. Since then regional economies and capital markets have recovered strongly. Fast forward to Wednesday and Standard Chartered Private […]
By Nantoo Banerjee With the government and the Reserve Bank gearing up to enact a new bankruptcy law in India, certain sectors of industry and sections of entrepreneurs may have genuine reasons to cheer. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said about ordinary corporate investors, creditors and bank depositors unless the government guarantees a strong deposit… This content is for Monthly, Annual, Free Trial and Basic members only. […]
Mumbai: Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) has allowed insurance companies to invest in onshore rupee bonds issued by Asian Development Bank (ADB) and International Finance Corporation (IFC), an arm of the World Bank. IFC had sent a representation to Irda to permit insurers to invest in onshore rupee bonds to be issued by it…. This content is for Monthly, Annual, Free Trial and Basic members only. […]
Op-Ed Contributor By MICHAEL SINGH August 19, 2014 WASHINGTON — President Obama surprised many recently when he diagnosed the crisis gripping Iraq as partly an economic one, noting that Iraqi Sunnis were “detached from the global economy” and thus frustrated in achieving their aspirations. While Iraq’s chaos has many sources, the president is nevertheless on to something; and it’s not just Iraqi Sunnis, but the entire Middle East that […]
Brokerages in the United Arab Emirates, where the market regulator last month vowed it may create new rules to control so-called margin trading, are increasingly offering Shariah-compliant versions of the service. The practice contributed to stock market volatility in the country this year that sent Dubai’s benchmark index from a bull market into a bear and back again in less than a month. The U.A.E. said it […]
Airport retailer Dubai Duty Free (DDF) is repricing a $1.75 billion syndicated loan for the second time in just over a year to obtain more favourable terms, a fresh sign of banks’ willingness to lend cheaply to the emirate. The six-year loan, originally signed in July 2012, was split between dirham- and U.S. dollar-denominated tranches, both priced at 325 basis points over the London interbank offered rate […]
