|By Saifur Rehman|A 37 percent jump in fuel price has reduced the half-yearly net income of Emirates Group by 53 percent to $296 million in the first half of 2018-19 year, a company statement said. The high fuel cost as well as currency devaluations in India, Brazil, Angola and Iran, wiped out approximately Dh4.6 billion from the group’s profits. Emirates Group, which operates the world’s largest international […]
When we look to America these days it’s largely with an eye on politics. Much of the world is experiencing a different kind of political environment, with more visible players, more polarizing issues, and more drama overall. And this is being exemplified by America under a President who speaks only to his own party, and who approaches the job as if it’s a reality television show. As […]
|By Arabian Post Staff|Smart Dubai and IBM announced the launch of the Dubai Blockchain Platform, the first government-endorsed blockchain platform as-a-service in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Delivered through an IBM Cloud environment and built locally in the UAE, the enterprise-ready platform will serve as a stepping stone for organizations in the UAE and globally to transition their blockchain testing and development into full-production. It will also […]
Saxo Group India, part of the Saxo Bank Group, has expanded its presence with the move to a new and bigger office in Gurugram to accommodate future growth with a plan to increase headcount by 20 % in 2018. Established through an acquisition in 2010, Saxo Group India employs more than 500 people primarily within IT and operations. The organisation in Gurugram works with Saxo Bank’s headquarter […]
|By Matein Khalid| 2018 has been a difficult year for GCC and Dubai real estate. Rents and capital values continued to fall in the third quarter, albeit at different rates in specific segments and micro-markets. The Federal Reserve’s latest monetary tightening at the September 26 FOMC means the six months Emirates Interbank Offered Rate (EIBOR), the bellwether rate for floating rate home mortgages in the UAE is […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Banks in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) should continue to breathe a little easier in the year ahead. Barring any major increase in geopolitical risk or a sharp fall in oil prices, 2019 should mark a stabilization of GCC banks’ financial profiles, following three years of significant pressure, Standaard & Poor’s said in its latest review. What’s more, with the transition to IFRS […]
|By Arabian Post Staff|Dubai has annonnced the world’s first faciltiy to make Blockchain-based digital payments for school fees, bills and retail purchases. The digital currency has been launched in partnership between Blockchain payment provider Pundi X, Ebooc Fintech and Loyalty Labs along with Dubai’s Credit Bureau named emcredit. Consumers in Dubai, UAE will be able to use digital currency to make retail payments in-store, pay for government […]
|By Arabian Post Staff|In a bid to achieve food security in developing countries and eradicate global poverty, Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD), the leading national entity for development aid, has allocated nearly AED3.2 billion towards development projects in the agricultural and irrigation sectors. Representing 7 per cent of the total financial assistance contributed by the Fund in supporting developing countries to date, this assistance has allowed […]
/ByArabian Post Staff/ The UAE Cabinet has announced that upon retirement, expatriates over the age of 55 will be granted a five-year retirement visa if they meet a set of clauses which include either having properties worth at least AED 2 million, a minimum of AED 1 million in savings or an active income of more than AED 20k per month. The law is said to come into […]
|By Alexander Stewart|Advertisers are increasingly appreciative of the value in data-driven, channel-specific creative messaging. Given the associated costs of BRTV spot advertising, more and more brands are focussing their efforts elsewhere – social, programmatic OLV, on-demand programming. Viewership is moving away from linear television to go online, with 54% of 25-34 audience in Ukraine claiming to watch online video content every single day. As smartphone penetration continues […]
By James M. Dorsey Dug in for the long haul in its increasingly bitter dispute with the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, Qatar is emerging as a key player in efforts to prevent tension between Israel and Hamas, the Islamist group that controls Gaza, from spinning out of control. Qatar’s increasing role counters Saudi and UAE efforts to shape Palestinian politics in their mould. It further […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Barwa Bank and International Bank of Qatar (ibq) have announced that they have signed a final agreement regarding the merger of the two banks to create a leading Sharia compliant financial institution with a solid financial position and robust liquidity to support Qatar’s economic growth and finance development initiatives in line with Qatar National Vision 2030. According to this merger agreement, the two […]
By James M. Dorsey Less than a week in office, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has made blasphemy one of his first issues, empowering militants and initiating international moves, long heralded by Saudi Arabia, that would restrict press freedom by pushing for a global ban. Mr. Khan, in his first address as prime minister to the Pakistani Senate, said he intended to raise the blasphemy issue in […]
By James M. Dorsey Financial injections by Qatar and possibly China may resolve Turkey’s immediate economic crisis, aggravated by a politics-driven trade war with the United States, but are unlikely to resolve the country’s structural problems, fuelled by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s counterintuitive interest rate theories. The latest crisis in Turkey’s boom-bust economy raises questions about a development model in which countries like China and Turkey witness moves towards […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) has announced the distribution of more than AED 23.4 billion in cash dividends to around 406 thousand investors on behalf of listed companies in 2018. The cash dividends paid out by listed companies increased around 5.5% compared AED 22.2 billion in the year 2017. This announcement is a confirmation of ADX’s success in providing a distinct investment climate and […]
By James M. Dorsey An offer by a Saudi-backed bank to lend financially strapped Pakistan US$4 billion is likely intended to bolster Saudi influence when former international cricket player Imran Khan is sworn in in the coming week as the South Asian country’s next prime minister. The offer was most immediately related to a statement by Asad Umar, Pakistan’s new finance minister-in-waiting, that Pakistan would decide on whether to seek […]
|By Allan Leinwand| According to a recent research report from PwC, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is expected to account for approximately 13.6% of the United Arab Emirates’ GDP in 2030. However, AI is seen by many as being either a hero or a villain. On one hand, AI is currently driving nearly every CIO’s agenda because it intelligently automates work processes, making it possible to do things that have never been […]
|By Arabian Posst Staff| Etihad Aviation Group (EAG) CEO Tony Douglas and Jiangsu Provincial Overseas Cooperation and Investment Company Limited (JOCIC) Chairman Luo Hua inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a strategic partnership during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s three-day state visit to the United Arab Emirates. The two sides plan to cooperate on a wide range of areas in order to better support the development of […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Noon, the Middle East’s homegrown digital marketplace, announced the launch of two entities in China, one on the mainland and the other in Hong Kong, kick starting noon’s Asia operations. In China, noon aims to establish a trusted network of high-quality Chinese brand owners with unique offerings, to bring the best range of products to customers in the Middle East. A dedicated noon […]
By James M. Dorsey Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman could well dash expectations that he is gunning for a break with Sunni Muslim ultra-conservatism rather than a shaving off of the rough edges of Wahhabi ideology that has been woven into the kingdom’s fabric since its founding more than eighty years ago. Prince Mohammed has fuelled expectations by fostering Islamic scholars who advocate a revision of […]
By James M. Dorsey The Pakistani government’s removal of a virulently anti-Shiite militant from its terrorism list at the very moment that an international money laundering and terrorism finance watchdog was deciding to put the country on a watchlist highlights Pakistan’s struggle to come to grips with militancy. The decision by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) that was reported by Pakistani media but has yet to be announced […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Abraaj Holdings, Abraaj Investment Management Limited and Colony Capital, Inc., through the Group’s Joint Provisional Liquidators, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte, announced that they have reached agreement on the principal terms for the sale and purchase of the Group’s Latin America, Sub Saharan Africa, North Africa and Turkey Funds management business and the Group’s Limited Partnership interests in the underlying Funds, along with staff in the eight offices being […]
|By Saifur Rahman, Executive Editor| UAE Central Bank said, it has downgraded seven money exchanging houses for violating the Central Bank’s regulations, including Anti-Money Laundering rules. The UAE has 140 money exchange houses with 835 branches spread across the length and breadth of the country while some of the exchange houses have branches in other countries. Following the downgrading, Taher Exchange Est., Al Hadha Exchange LLC, Al Hemriya Exchange […]
|By Matein Khalid| Crude oil prices plunged by 7% in two sessions as Saudi Arabia and Russia confirmed that they would release 1 million barrels a day in the wet barrel markets. Speculative froth in the oil futures markets vanished, to be replaced by a new trading calculus based on the realities of supply and demand – as well as the unknowable (and unquantifiable!) arc of […]
