DIFC posts 18pc growth in companies DUBAI, 23 hours, 54 minutes ago Dubai International Financial Centre, a leading financial hub connecting the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (Measa) markets with the economies of Europe, Asia and the Americas, has posted an 18 per cent growth in the number of active registered companies. More than 240 new companies were licensed during the last year, compared with 199 […]
EFG Hermes posts $70m profit on bank expansion CAIRO, 1 days ago Egypt’s EFG Hermes turned a profit after tax and minority interests of EGP538 million ($70.51 million) last year after a net loss of EGP540 million the year before, helped by strong growth in its regional investment banking operations, the bank said. The company, one of the Middle East’s largest investment banks, said profit was boosted […]
Lloyds Banking Group and Natixis have sold their holdings in debt of Dubai World, the state-owned conglomerate nearing a $14.6 billion debt restructuring, according to sources familiar with the matter. Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) also sold at least part of its exposure in the conglomerate, said two sources, which could mean more than $1 billion of Dubai World’s debt has changed hands. The moves help pave […]
Dubai Investments, a diversified Gulf-based investment group, plans to float shares in at least one subsidiary next year and could also divest other holdings, its chief executive said on Monday. The firm, which reported a 63 percent rise in annual profit to 1.34 billion dirhams ($364.8 million) last year, has primed three subsidiaries – in financial services and property, plus district cooling firm Emicool – to potentially […]
Salim Al Aufi, Oman’s undersecretary for oil and gas, likens attempts to cut the reliance on oil during a price slump to acting “with a gun pointed at your head.” If you have to make decisions under pressure, “you will probably make the wrong ones,” he said March 3 in Muscat during a panel discussion on the impact of the oil shock. Oman relied too much on […]
Sharjah Islamic Bank (SIB) priced a $500 million sukuk of five years duration on Tuesday, a document from lead managers showed. The Islamic bond was priced at a spread of 110 basis points over midswaps and carried a profit rate of 2.843 percent, the document said. The final spread was at the tight end of price guidance issued earlier in the day of 115 bps, plus or […]
The proposal by Dubai Municipality to introduce mandatory affordable housing quotas for all new residential developments in Dubai is long overdue and is expected to bring a wide range of benefits to the emirate, while driving further maturity in the market, according to leading international real estate consultants, Cluttons. With the residential market in Dubai now meandering through the second half of the current property cycle and […]
Falcon Private Bank is open to buying rivals as it expects a wave of consolidation in the industry due to more onerous regulations, its global head of private banking said on Wednesday. Swiss-based but Abu Dhabi-owned Falcon would be open to deals covering its core target markets of the Gulf, Eastern Europe, Africa and South East Asia, according to Erich Pfister, who took up the role in […]
The BBC’s headquarters in London Photo: AP The BBC’s director-general, Tony Hall, is a man in a hurry. As one of the oldest DGs to be appointed, and already in receipt of his BBC pension, the 64-year-old is acutely aware that the corporation’s charter has less than two years to run, and that the licence fee – the BBC’s bedrock for the 93 years of its existence – […]
Declining oil prices are adversely affectingthe fiscal profiles of the countries in the region.Image: Reuters Mena sovereign ratings on the decline DUBAI, 4 days ago The sharp drop in oil prices since mid-2014 is likely to lead to weakening economic, external and fiscal profiles for the region, particularly for the GCC, said a new analysis released by Standard & Poor’s. However, of the 12 Mena sovereigns rated, […]
Gen Odierno said that British defence cuts are already jeopardising US-UK joint operations Photo: AP Ever since the Cold War ended more than two decades ago, America has never entertained any serious doubts about Britain’s ability to fulfil its commitment as a vital military ally when tackling threats to the Western alliance. Until now. For the dramatic cuts to Britain’s defence budget implemented since the Coalition took power […]
ABC Islamic Bank profit up 23pc to 15m MANAMA, 1 days ago ABC Islamic Bank has posted a net profit of $15.1 million last year, a 23 per cent increase as compared to $12.2 million recorded in 2013. The net profit for the fourth quarter was $3.6 million, 19 per cent higher than the same period of the previous year, said a statement. The total operating income […]
Mubasher Financial ….. Nasdaq Dubai’s ‘Retail Broker of the Month’ January 2015. Mubasher wins special recognition by Nasdaq DUBAI, 2 days ago Mubasher Financial Services, one of the Middle East’s leading financial institutions, has announced that it has been recognised by Nasdaq Dubai as the ‘Retail Broker of the Month’ for January 2015. This recognition reinforces Mubasher’s market positioning as a widely respected financial services business, […]
Dubai is adjusting regulation of investment firms that handle the money of wealthy people in its financial free zone, a move that could help the zone win more wealth-management business from the Middle East and Asia. Like other financial hubs, the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) distinguishes between less-sophisticated retail clients and richer, more experienced professional clients, which are assumed to need less regulatory protection. New rules […]
HSBC Holdings, struggling to contain a scandal over tax evasion at its private bank, reported lower-than-predicted fourth-quarter profit as costs and conduct provisions rose. The shares slumped the most since 2011. Pretax profit dropped 56 percent to $1.7 billion from the year-earlier period, London-based HSBC said in a statement on Monday. That missed the $3.7 billion average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Full-year profit fell […]
As it gets under way at the MGM Grand & Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, IBM’s InterConnect 2015 corporate convention will touch on cloud, mobile, DevOps, security, asset management, Internet of Things, application integration, and smarter processes. But a main area of focus is expected to be hybrid cloud technology, which gives IBM’s individual businesses a chance to discuss and demonstrate how they can better leverage each […]
Dubai Investments PJSC, the company with interests in real estate and manufacturing, will buy a 60 percent stake in investment bank Al Mal Capital PSC as part of a plan to boost financial services assets. The company will pay about 150 million dirhams ($41 million) for the stake and expects to complete the purchase by March 15, Chief Executive Officer Khalid Jassim Kalban said in a phone […]
David and Charles Koch If you doubt whether Republicans are serious about defeating Hillary Clinton, consider this: At a California meeting last week headed by billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch, an $889 million budget was unveiled before the network of conservative donors they assembled. Some have gone so far as to suggest this essentially makes the Koch network America’s “third” political party. After all, their warchest […]
State-owned conglomerate Dubai World edged closer to a second major restructuring in four years on Monday after announcing it had reached agreement with a “substantial majority” of creditors to back its $14.6 billion debt deal. However, despite having enough backing to effectively prevent challenges to its new deal, a relatively untested court process to impose it will mean formal completion is still months away. Dubai’s economy has […]
|By Florence Tan and Henning Gloystein|Even as Saudi Arabia and its Gulf OPEC allies appear united in their refusal to cut output to boost global oil prices, they are becoming locked in an increasingly fierce battle to secure market share in Asia. Oil prices have slumped below $50 a barrel, the weakest since 2009, triggering a price war between producers to secure customers in Asia. And the […]
Foreign spend in Egypt to hit $2bn in Q2 CAIRO, 23 hours, 2 minutes ago Foreign investment in Egypt will reach about $2 billion in the second quarter of the fiscal year, up from $1.8 billion dollars in the previous quarter, investment minister Ashraf Salman told Reuters in an interview on Sunday. Egypt is also preparing a new unified investment law that will be sent to President […]
Kalban … expansion plans. Dubai Investments plans $108m acquisitions DUBAI, 1 days ago Dubai Investments (DI), a leading investment company listed on the Dubai Financial Market, has announced expansion plans across its diversified portfolio, which include two new acquisitions worth Dh400 million ($108 million). The new acquisitions in the financial and real estate sectors, to be finalised soon, are expected to reinforce Dubai Investments’ robust growth across […]
Bahrain offers direct subscription to govt sukuks MANAMA, 1 days ago Bahrain Bourse (BHB) has announced that from today (January 11) investors can directly subscribe to the Government Islamic Lease Securities (sukuk) in the primary market through registered brokers at the bourse. The subscription period through the registered brokers is until Wednesday, reported the Gulf Daily News, our sister publication. The listing of the issue is expected […]
Liana Technologies ….. shortlisted in the European Business Awards competition. Liana Technologies nominated for European Business Award DUBAI, 1 days ago Liana Technologies, a leading online marketing software provider in the Middle East, has been shortlisted in the European Business Awards competition, for the Customer Focus category. The company is one of the national finalists, in which succeeding requires customer-focused products and services and high quality. The […]
