Saudi

Iranian Lawmakers’ Car Ambushed by Gunmen in Kurdish Region

TEHRAN — Gunmen ambushed a car carrying a lawmaker and a local governor on Sunday in Iran’s restive Kurdish region, state news media reported. Both men were wounded, and the driver and a veterinarian traveling with them were killed. The lawmaker, Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, a member of a key foreign council in Iran’s Parliament, escaped with minor injuries, according to the Mizan news agency. Mr. Falahatpisheh and the […]

July 11

Columns, Featured

Abu Dhabi megabank to reshape UAE banking

|By Matein Khalid| The merger of Abu Dhabi banks First Gulf Bank and NBAD creates the largest bank in the Middle East, a regional colossus with $170 billion in assets, competitive funding cost in the global interbank/capital markets and a market value greater than Credit Suisse, Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) and Deutsche Bank. This is the biggest game changer event in UAE banking and finance since the […]

July 07

British equities and recession in the sceptered isle

|By Matein Khalid| David Cameron, Wall Street’s elite, Mutti Merkel, Obama, the Eurocrats of Brussels, the great and the good of the City and the IMF’s Lady Christine all got it so horribly wrong. I slept Thursday night with sterling at 1.50 on New York and awoke to see it trade at 1.34 on Friday, a 30 year low before the Plaza Accords. Britain has voted to […]

June 29

Abu Dhabi and Dubai most expensive Middle East cities to live in

ABU DHABI // Abu Dhabi and Dubai remain among the most expensive cities in the Middle East and the world, a global cost-of-living survey has revealed. This year, Dubai ranked the 21st most expensive city in the world, up from 23 last year, while the capital came in number 25, up from 33 last year. Hong Kong is the world’s most expensive city for expats, while the […]

June 22

Ramadan is not an excuse to slow down at work

It is the duty of all to work hard with full dedication during shortened working hours Ramadan is a month for Muslims to feel closer to God and look inward into their soul. It is a time to foster bonds with family and loved ones. It is a month of caring, empathising with the needy and doing good deeds. But with this journey of introspection also comes […]

June 22

Iranian General, Denouncing Move by Bahrain, Threatens ‘Bloody Intifada’

TEHRAN — In comments suggesting that Iran was prepared to support an armed uprising in Bahrain, a senior Iranian commander has threatened the Sunni-led state of Bahrain for revoking the citizenship of a leading Shiite opposition cleric. In a statement on Monday, the commander, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the high-profile leader of the elite Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, denounced the “mistreatment” of the cleric […]

June 21

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Bahrain Crossed ‘Red Line’ by Cracking Down on Shiite Cleric, Iran Says

By THOMAS ERDBRINK June 21, 2016 TEHRAN — Threats issued on Monday by a senior Iranian commander to the Sunni-led island state of Bahrain seemed to indicate that Iran was prepared to support an armed uprising there, after the Bahraini authorities revoked the citizenship of a leading Shiite opposition cleric. In a statement, the commander, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the high-profile leader of the elite Quds Force of the Islamic […]

June 21

Brexit, sterling and UK bank shares

|By Matein Khalid| Sterling sell off in the world currency markets and the sheer populist appeal of Boris Johnson suggests the world should not rule out a geopolitical shock that will unnerve financial markets and lead to the mother of all rate cuts at the Bank of England. If Britain votes to leave the EU, the only currency I want to own is the Swiss franc and gold, […]

June 16

Aramco, Petronas seek $7b for joint venture

|By Arabian Post Staff|Malaysia’s state-owned oil corporation and Saudi Arabian Oil Co. are asking banks for proposals to finance about $7 billion for a planned refinery and a petrochemical complex in the Southeast Asian nation, Bloomberg reported. The lenders would provide financing for the two projects worth a total of $12 billion to be constructed by Petroliam Nasional Bhd. and Saudi Aramco under a memorandum of understanding that […]

June 16

How Yemen’s wartime central bank keeps country afloat

Last bastion of financial system pays salaries on both sides of civil war as governor maintains ‘economic traduce’ Yemeni locals and secruity guards are pictured outside the Central Bank of Yemen in the capital Sana’a. Dubai: As civil war engulfs Yemen, the central bank is so committed to staying neutral that it pays salaries of soldiers on both sides. The bank […]

June 10

A central banker and the end of banking alchemy

|By Matein Khalid|Dr. Mervyn King broke with tradition by publishing his book “The End of Alchemy: money, banking and the future of the global economy”. After all, retired governors of the Bank of England do not, as a rule, do not write/publish books, let alone write books that lambast the City of London’s culture of greed and hubris. It is no coincidence that Dr. King quotes T.S. […]

June 10

Feature: Mecca Goes Mega

In the days before rapid sea or air travel, it could take months to travel to Mecca. The spiritual heart of Islam lay far from its great capitals in Istanbul, Delhi and Isfahan. The devout came from distant lands on foot, by camel and in horse-drawn carriages. Bedouin tribes routinely robbed these pilgrims, who were the primary source of revenue for this ancient desert town. Now, the […]

June 08

SAMA warns banks against rate under-reporting

|By Arabian Post Staff|The Saudi Arabia Monetary Agency has written to banks instructing them not to under-report Saudi Interbank Offered Rate they’re actually lending at, Bloomberg reported. The decision came after some banks were seen conducting business at higher rates than were quoted, indicating some submissions were below the real market, according to two of the people. SAMA is exerting greater control over Saudi Arabia’s banking sector as […]

June 06

Iraqis Who Flee Fighting in Falluja Find Hardship and Hunger

AMIRIYAT FALLUJA, Iraq — One of the Iraqi civilians who risked an escape from the sprawling battle for Falluja made it as far as the Euphrates River. He was there for all to see on Sunday morning: His body, tied to the side of a boat, bobbed in the muddy waters next to a rickety bridge that separates Baghdad from the violence of Anbar Province. “Sheikh, sheikh, […]

June 06

Trying to Fill Void, France Holds Talks on Mideast Peace Process

PARIS — With the Obama administration having effectively given up on negotiating a deal between the Israelis and the Palestinians, France tried its hand on Friday at making Middle East peace but ended the day with little to show for its efforts. Even before President François Hollande convened diplomats from 29 countries for the session — including Secretary of State John Kerry but no representatives of either […]

June 04

IHS: Risk premium expected to return to oil markets in 2017 as Middle East instability persists

INTERNATIONAL. –(BUSINESS WIRE)–Shifting power relationships in the Middle East are reordering regional geopolitics, entrenching a stalemate of conflict that threatens to further destabilize the region. Wars in Syria and Yemen and against the Islamic State, combined with the balancing of supply and demand in oil markets later this year, will likely return a risk premium to oil prices in 2017, says a new special report by IHS […]

June 02

Middle East consumers open to 'Care Anywhere' when it comes to health

UAE. According to a new report, PwC Middle East’s ‘Care Anywhere: Moving health and wellness out of the hospital into the hands of the consumer’, technology is providing the opportunity for new ways of accessing and delivering healthcare. In a society that is living longer, with Governments facing the growing burden of long-term chronic disease and increasing costs of treatment, innovation and technology could be the catalyst […]

June 02

Middle Eastern Writers Find Refuge in the Dystopian Novel

Basma Abdel Aziz was walking in downtown Cairo one morning when she saw a long line of people standing in front of a closed government building. Returning hours later, Ms. Abdel Aziz, a psychiatrist who counsels torture victims, passed the same people still waiting listlessly — a young woman and an elderly man, a mother holding her baby. The building remained closed. When she got home, she […]

May 30

Iran Bars Pilgrims From Traveling to Mecca for Hajj

TEHRAN — In a sign of further tension between regional rivals, Iran will not allow its citizens to travel to Saudi Arabia for the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca in September, Iran’s state television reported on Sunday. The decision, which means that tens of thousands of Iranians cannot make their spiritual journey to the main pilgrimage site of Islam, came after several failed rounds of talks between […]

May 29

Banking & Finance, Columns

Iran-Led Push to Retake Falluja From ISIS Worries U.S.

By TIM ARANGO May 28, 2016 BAGHDAD — American commandos are on the front lines in Syria in a new push toward the Islamic State’s de facto capital in Raqqa, but in Iraq it is an entirely different story: Iran, not the United States, has become the face of an operation to retake the jihadist stronghold of Falluja from the militant group. On the outskirts of Falluja, tens of […]

May 28

Germany and the coming Greek default

|By Matein Khalid| In retrospect, 2016 will go down in German political and economic history as a significant game changer, on the scale of 1989 (fall of the Berlin Wall), 1990 (reunification) and 1999 (the Euro), even 1945 (launch of Deutschemark), 1945 (Third Reich surrenders), 1943 (Stalingrad) and 1933 (Hitler elected). Chancellor Merkel, renamed Mutti Multi kulti, allowed a million migrants to settle in Germany. The far right […]

May 25

Al Arabiya fires dozens in restructuring move

Sources tell Gulf News media reports have exaggerated the reasons behind the lay-offs Dubai: The Saudi-owned pan-Arab Al Arabiya has fired dozens of employees in a restructuring move. Saudi Akhbaar24 broke the story claiming fifty employees had been let go, among them some well-known and long-serving staffers. A trusted source, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the news to Gulf News but […]

May 25

UAE tourist spend down 6% in first quarter

|By Arabian Post Staff| The overall tourism spend by visitors to the UAE declined by 6% in the first quarter of 2016, according to a report on consumer card spends by Network International, the leading payment solutions provider in the MENA region. Due to a continuous appreciation in the US Dollar along with a bullish global economic outlook and a fall in the prices of crude oil, […]

May 25

PwC Middle East report looks at how businesses are protecting assets at a time of heightened cyber-crime

UAE. Cyber-crime is not a new phenomenon, but it’s hitting the headlines as never before. According to PwC Middle East’s latest report, there is a renewed willingness among organizations to invest in security, with many organizations incorporating strategic initiatives to improve security and reduce risks. PwC Middle East’s Global State of Information Security survey 2016 looks at how the survey results from over 300 Middle East companies […]

May 23

Limitless reaches second debt deal with banks

|By Arabian Post Staff| Dubai’s government owned property developer Limitless will make an early payment of 2.07 billion dirhams ($564 million) to banks and trade creditors after reaching a second debt restructuring deal with them, Bloomberg reported. The company will pay 1.9 billion dirhams to banks this month, covering 43 percent of the outstanding loan amount, Limitless said in an e-mailed statement on Thursday. It will pay 163 million […]

May 22

EM: Making and losing money

|By Matein Khalid| If ever there was a year to win or lose money big time in emerging markets, 2016 was it. As an investor in the world’s dark alleys (the Third World rebranded as EM!), I am forced to dissect geopolitical, government/monetary policy, foreign exchange, flows, positioning and current account, volatility and credit cycle trends across emerging markets to develop money making strategies. It helps that I […]

May 18

UAE indices extend losses as traders reposition

Markets move ‘sideways-to-soft’ ahead of Ramadan amid fears international markets will not be robust Dubai: UAE indices fell on Monday, extending losses for another session as traders repositioned themselves ahead of the Ramadan season. The Dubai Financial Market General Index (DFMGI) closed 0.43 per cent lower at 3,290.37, while the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange General index closed 0.66 per cent lower at 4,345.31. “UAE markets are moving […]

May 17

Closer alignment between CFO and CIO is crucial to successful finance transformation, reveals new Oracle study

INTERNATIONAL. /PRNewswire/ — The CFO has never been held more accountable for the company’s success, and the ability of finance teams to extract value from company data is the key to delivering on the chief executive’s expectations. Oracle’s study, Modern Finance: Driving Transformation from Within, found that closer alignment between the CFO and CIO is crucial if finance leaders are to effectively help the business achieve its […]

May 12