|By Arabian Post Staff| Adnoc announced plans to merge Abu Dhabi National Tanker Co., Petroleum Services Co. and Abu Dhabi Petroleum Ports Operating Co. by the end of 2017. The new shipping company will operate more than 165 vessels, including vessels to carry liquefied natural gas, chemicals and bulk cargo, Adnoc said. The consolidation is expected to lead to improved efficiency and savings. The move is seen […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Signs of friction over OPEC’s production freeze plan are already emerging, with more members questioning the proposed numbers. Iraq and Venezuela had already expressed doubts over data compiled by OPEC for this purpose on the ground that the data has been compiled from secondary sources. And now Iran has joined the protest. Output estimates compiled by OPEC’s Vienna-based secretariat are “not acceptable,” Bloomberg […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| The three-month Saudi Interbank Offered Rate, or Saibor, used as a benchmark to price loans, has climbed 15 successive months to the highest in seven years, Bloomberg reported. It gained 84 basis points this year to 2.385 percent on Sunday, compared with a 27 basis-point advance in the London Interbank Offered Rate for dollars. Meanwhile, the loans-to-deposit ratio among Saudi banks, a key measure of […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| A high level panel will examine the effects and ramifications of de-risking for Middle East banks, under which correspondent banking relationships are constrained or blocked by international regulators protecting their banks from perceived risk such as money laundering or financing terrorism. The panel will discuss how banks manage de-risking, how it affects their small and medium sized corporate clients in the Middle East […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| The Dubai Islamic Economy Development Centre is in the process of developing a National Bonds Sukuk Trading Platform, which uses assets in the local economy to structure Shariah-compliant consumer financing. This is pat of the initiative to develop new strategies to meet the liquidity management and personal financing needs of Islamic banks and Islamic windows at conventional banks. These products are expected to […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| GE marked a new milestone in its operational presence in Kuwait with the opening of the GE Kuwait Technology Center (GEKTC), a flagship facility that will foster localized research, provide hands-on training and build an innovation ecosystem specifically for the power sector. Approved by the Kuwait Direct Investment Promotion Authority (KDIPA) for a Foreign Investment License last year, the 6,000 sq meter GEKTC, […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Goldman Sachs Group Inc. won a landmark case when a London court ruled that there is no evidence to prove the bank resorted to unlawful practices to get Libyan officials to invest with it, a move that led to $1.2 billion loss to Libya. The verdict put to rest claims the bank leveraged its reputation as well as lavish meals and prostitutes to […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Saudi Arabia said it was holding investor meetings in London, Los Angeles, Boston and New York from Wednesday to sell benchmark bonds maturing in five, 10 and 30 years. The issue is expected to be at least $10 billion. “It’s very good timing,” Bloomberg quoted Angelo Rossetto, a trader at GMSA Investments Ltd. in London, as saying. “I wouldn’t say now or never as […]
|By Arabian Post Staff|Etihad Aviation Group and TUI AG confirmed they are in discussions to create a strong European leisure airline group, focused on point-to-point flying to connect key tourist markets. It is proposed to contribute the touristic operations of the airberlin group and the German TUIfly company, including the aircraft currently operated by TUIfly for airberlin under a wet-lease agreement, into a new airline group established […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, which bought Barclays Plc’s UAE retail business, has cut more than 200 jobs over the past three months, Bloomberg reported quoting some people. The cuts were made mostly in the retail business, the report said. About 100 people were dismissed last month, with the layoffs mostly affecting junior staff, one of the people said. A spokesman for the bank, […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Despite external debt remaining at tight spreads due to still-high leverage and refinancing challenges, Dubai will muddle through the current crisis in terms of debt rollovers, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch said in its latest research. Although the investment bank expects the local bid on the shorter end to weaken due to low oil prices, it sees chances of less supply risk for Dubai […]
|By Arabian Post Staff|The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has witnessed a 210.8% growth in the use of Chinese currency for payments in the last two years, data released by SWIFT has shown. More than 80% of the direct payments made between the UAE and China and Hong Kong in August 2016 were in CNY, representing one of the highest increases worldwide. Data also shows that the EMEA […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| High gold prices are threatening India’s status as a leading importer of gold and this has significant impact on Dubai gold trade. According to Indian reports, the Indian gold bazaars have seen a mass movement of people selling their gold jewelry. The market has transformed from whole sellers and brokers to individual gold sellers looking to take advantage of the high price of gold, […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| OPEC members aren’t likely to reach a supply deal in Algiers next week, but an agreement to boost prices could be drawing closer after Saudi Arabia signaled for the first time in two years that it’s willing to cut production, Bloomberg reported. Saudi Arabia and Iran, whose rivalry thwarted a deal with other major producers in April, didn’t reach agreement after two days of […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Dubai is seeking $2.5 billion in loans to finance a 15-kilometer extension of its metro line to the World Expo site, Bloomberg reported quoting unnamed sources. The news agency said banks have submitted various proposals, including a $1.34 billion facility backed by European export credit agencies. Lenders also bid for a $1.12 billion unsecured, commercial facility that is guaranteed by the Dubai government, […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| The global oil market will most likely remain oversupplied for the rest of 2016 and well into 2017, rating agency Standard & Poor’s has forecast. The view has been attributed to global oil production remaining in excess of demand, and the resulting persistently high crude oil and product inventories putting spot prices and near-term futures under significant pressure. Members of the Organization of […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Platts, independent provider of information and benchmark prices for the commodities and energy markets, announced that it will publish independent, outright price assessments for a range of oil products for the Middle East market on a Free-On-Board Fujairah basis starting October 3, 2016. The new assessments are for gasoline, diesel/gasoil, jet fuel and fuel oil. They will be published alongside existing physical netback […]
|By Arabian Post Staff|Up to AED 7 billion in outstanding loans were restructured by UAE banks through negotiations with over 1700 small and medium enterprises in distress, the UAE Banks Federation has revealed. The restructuring was done under an initiative of the Federation named “Modus Operandi”. The initiative was launched by the Federation earlier in the year under which lenders to SMEs experiencing repayment difficulties agree to […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Dubai-based Shaikhani Group announced a major foray in Dubai’s property market with 11 real estate projects with a collective value exceeding Dh3.5 billion (US$950 million) that are in various stages of development. Shaikhani Group’s 11 projects will deliver 2,100 residential and commercial units in Dubai Sports City, Jumeirah Village Circle and Dubai Silicon Oasis. Of these, the company is at an advanced stage of […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| DEWA has awarded the contract for Independent Power Producer (IPP) Advisory Services for the 200MW Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) Plant to a consortium led by KPMG Lower Gulf Limited (Financial), alongside Mott MacDonald (Technical) and Ashurt (Legal). This is part of DEWA’s efforts to increase the percentage of renewable and clean energy in the energy mix, and support the Dubai Green Energy Strategy […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| The generations of Millennials, meaning people between the ages of 19 and 35, as well as Centennials, denoting young people aged up to 18, will most probably end up poorer than their parents and grand parents, a Bank of America-Merrill Lynch report titled Thematic Investing: The New Kids on the Block has predicted. Gen Y (“Millennials”, 19-35Y) and Gen Z (“Centennials”, 0-18Y) are […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Patent grants from the GCC in chemistry have seen a five-fold increase in the last decade, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Producing up to USD102.6 billion worth of products a year, petrochemical industry is a main generator of patents from Gulf region along IT and electronics. “The petrochemical industry in the Gulf is of global standards where there is an […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Switching from conventional ‘Western’ financial practices to Islamic banking gives distinct advantages to banks, with the change improving the liquidity and value of stocks, a study of the merger between a Bahrian Islamic bank and a conventional bank revealed. Researchers at the Universities of Birmingham and Brighton studied a merger that took place in Bahrain, between an Islamic bank and a conventional bank […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Abu Dhabi’s Masdar City without light switches or water taps has much to teach people around the world about saving energy and precious resources. With its low-rise and energy efficient buildings, smart metering, excellent public transport and extensive use of renewable energy, the 2,000 citizens of Masdar City are living in a place which is a ‘green’ example to city planners around the […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| With the Algiers meeting of OPEC drawing closer, the approach of the price boost initiatives is itself apparently evolving into something totally different from the initial idea of some sort of an output freeze. The new buzz word seems be ceiling rather than the freeze. Of course, the overriding consideration is voluntarism. According to reports, the OPEC producers, particularly the camp led by […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| There is a growing digital divide between those wealth managers who offer engaging and client-friendly websites that are continually updated and improved, and those who are lacking in a number of key areas. The quality of the websites of the latter group is, at best, stagnating, and mobile websites in particular remain a weakness. These are the key findings of the new report […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| The extent to which the economic slowdown has affected the performance of companies is fairly well known. Still, when Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund and corporate entity Mubadala announced its half yearly result, it came as a shocker. The Mubadala Development Co., which has announced a merger with International Petroleum Investment Co., has posted a first half loss of AED 4.43 billion ($1.2 […]
|By Arabian Post Staff|Nearly half of the travellers believe losing money is one of the top-three threats they may face abroad, and credit card compromise is considered to be a top-three threat by 35% of users, according to research by Kaspersky Lab. The research also highlighted that there is a real danger when it comes to losing money when traveling: 22% of respondents have experienced such a […]
|By Arabian Post Staff|The new bankruptcy law of the UAE envisages the setting up of a regulatory body called the Committee for Financial Restructuring to administer the law and its procedures. The Committee will be in charge of: overseeing the procedures of financial restructuring outside the scope of the court and will appoint experts in the field of financial restructuring, establish an electronic record of individuals against […]
|By Arabian Post Staff|The DIFC Wills & Probate Registry (W&PR) has announced the launch of an online facility that provides eligible resident and non-resident property owners with a simple, cost-effective way to pass on their assets. This new facility has been made available on The Registry’s website www.difcprobate.ae from 6th September 2016. Property owners can complete a template will online that is specifically limited to real estate. […]
