|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, […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Emirates Islamic announced the successful closure of its US$ 750 million 5-year Sukuk from its US$ 2.5 billion Certificate Issuance Programme. The issue, which will be listed on NASDAQ Dubai and the Irish Stock Exchange, received overwhelming investor interest from across the globe and marked the Bank’s return to the international debt capital markets after a period of four years. In September 2015, […]
|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 […]
Despite the plethora of graphic design tools available to organizations, creating good visual content is often a labor-intensive process requiring many hours of work by highly trained professionals. A new suite of software by Adobe, however, is hoping to change that. The platform, called Adobe Spark, is designed to help non-professional designers create their own visual content. Besides being a fun tool for students and individuals, the […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Saudi Arabia ranks among the top dozen foreign holders of U.S. debt, the Treasury Department disclosed, breaking its silence on the issue for the past four decades. “The stockpile of the world’s biggest oil exporter stood at $116.8 billion as of March, down almost 6 percent from a record in January, according to data the Treasury disclosed Monday in response to a Freedom-of-Information […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Emirates Islamic and French financial institution Natixis announced the completion of a US$50 million Collateralised Murabaha deal on the Nasdaq Dubai Murabaha Platform. It is the largest collateralised Murabaha transaction closed by Emirates Islamic this year, and the first of its kind executed on the Nasdaq Dubai Murabaha Platform. A joint initiative between Nasdaq Dubai and Emirates Islamic, Nasdaq Dubai’s Murabaha platform provides […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Dubai ports operator DP World Ltd. has selected more than a dozen banks for its sale of Islamic bonds in a deal that may be announced as early as Monday, Bloomberg reported quoting two people familiar with the issue. A benchmark-sized issue usually raises at least $500 million. The agency said 15 lenders have been hired for the offering of dollar-denominated, benchmark-sized securities, said […]
|By Arabian Post Staff|The heads of governments of two tax havens, under spotlight for disclosures of corruption and black money, advised major world players including the US to set their own houses in order before bullying small territories like theirs. Addressing an anti-corruption summit in London on Thursday, Allan Bell, chief minister of the Isle of Man, and Cayman Islands Premier Alden McLaughlin called on the U.S. and […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Iran’s leading private bank, Bank Mellat, won a major legal battle against the UK Treasury in its claim of $4 billion damages for the sanctions imposed on it in 2009, when the English Court of Appeal, presided by Lord Chief Justice Thomas of Cwmgiedd, upheld the bank’s claim that damages should cover loss to future income as well. Bank Mellat brought this claim […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| The UAE has earned the distinction of being the fastest growing market in the world for card transactions. The UAE is a clear front runner in a rapidly expanding regional payment environment as card transactions experienced an estimated 10 percent growth in 2015 compared to the previous year, amid a total 24 per cent growth in the MEA region, making it the fastest expansion rate in card transactions in […]
|By Arabian Post Staff|In further signs of consolidation by pro-reform Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman ordered the replacement of his central bank chief and Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi, the most influential personality of the oil industry yet. The moves are understood to be influenced by the sweeping economic changes spearheaded by the Deputy Crown Prince as part of his visionary plan […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| As the local economy continues to adjust to softening global conditions, overall residential values and rents in Dubai are set for a further decline throughout 2016, according to leading real estate consultancy Cluttons. Cluttons’ Dubai Spring 2016 Residential Property Market Outlook shows that after falling by an average of 3.1% during 2015, residential values fell by an additional 2.2% during the first quarter of […]
U.S. Health & Human Services Goes Salesforce for $100M CRM Upgrade The Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) recently announced an agency-wide $100 million Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) for Salesforce subscriptions. The agreement will allow HHS operating staff and personnel in other divisions to purchase Salesforce products and services through a central purchasing vehicle. The agency said the agreement will help streamline CRM (customer relationship management) […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Road sensors, cameras and traffic light systems face the risk of hacking and the data collected by these devices could be compromised with unforeseen results, endangering the security of both road users as well as city administrations. Leading cyber security company Kaspersky Lab experts have, after extensive field research, proved that the data gathered and processed by these sensors can be dramatically compromised […]
In 1900, John and Horace Dodge founded the Dodge Brothers Company in Detroit, Michigan. They jumped into the mix of a budding automotive industry, attracting the attention of Olds Motor Vehicle Company and Ford. The Dodge bothers later became an exclusive supplier to Ford but that relationship was never meant to be. “I am tired of being carried around in Henry Ford’s vest pocket,” declared John Dodge […]
A lot of factors go into helping Facebook determine which News Feed items appear first on a user’s page. This week, the company has added new considerations to ensure it delivers interesting content that’s geared specifically to each user. One of the new factors being added to the News Feed algorithm is time spent viewing an item. Facebook figures that the longer a user reads or views […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Dubai Mall recorded 80 million visitor arrivals in 2015. Various Emaar malls together received more than 124 million visitors, registering an increase of 9 per cent compared to 2014. “The shopping malls business will gain further traction with the launch of a dedicated Retail District in Dubai Creek Harbour and the expansion of The Dubai Mall by another 1 million sq ft built-up […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Emaar Properties’ botched Indian experiment seems to have come the full circle. The Dubai property giant is planning to end its perennially trouble-hit relationship with its Indian joint venture partner MGM Developments. The troubles of the joint venture named Emaar MGF Land Limited included a failed stock market flotation and delays to many of its projects. The demerger will “enable Emaar to implement […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| The cut in housing allowances implemented by companies in Abu Dhabi is creating further strain on the higher end of the emirate’s residential market, according to Cluttons Abu Dhabi Spring 2016 Property Market Outlook. This underscores the need to address the capital’s lack of affordable housing options, Cluttons said. Cluttons’ Abu Dhabi Spring 2016 Property Market Outlook report shows that the shrinking pool of […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| The proposed new Dubai landmark that will surpass the Burj Khalifa in height will be implemented by a joint venture between Emaar Properties and Dubai Holding. The new project comes as Dubai developers continue to announce new schemes despite a softening real estate sector, with the Emaar-built Burj Khalifa expected to be usurped by a tower currently under construction in Saudi Arabia. While […]
|Arabian Post Staff| Dubai Group, a member of the Dubai Holding, has hired Emirates NBD to help find a buyer for its stake in investment bank Shuaa Capital, Bloomberg reported quoting two people familiar with the matter. The sale process is at an early stage and may not result in a deal, Bloomberg quoted the sources as saying. But the sources were not identified as the talks are […]
|Arabian Post Special| The Mossack Fonseca (MF) data breach that made Panama Papers, the biggest data leak to journalists in history, possible has been traced to a vulnerable version of a plugin used to create sliders in website designs. According to leading cyber security firm Wordfence, Mossack Fonseca was running WordPress, one of the most popular website platforms in use, with a vulnerable version of Revoluiton Slider […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Diamonds are losing their allure and prices are dropping below the levels that prevailed a decade ago. And diamond’s loss is mostly the gain of vacations, fancy handbags and high-tech gadgets. Diamonds are now cheaper than they were in 2006, says a Bloomberg report quoting data from PolishedPrices.com. Over the same period, the price of luxury items like cars, shoes and fine foods […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| The way gold is bought and sold in London, the world’s largest gold-trading hub, may finally give way to newer methods to ensure that the city retains its status as a major gold hub. Currently, more gold is sold and bought in New York and Shanghai than London. Reports suggest that the London Bullion Market Association and the World Gold Council are pursuing […]
