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UAE. Private sector businesses in Dubai signalled further strong increases in business activity and new orders in June, though the rates of expansion moderated to 27- and 53-month lows, respectively. Despite softer increases in activity and new work, Dubai private sector companies were increasingly optimistic towards the year-ahead, with the degree of positive sentiment reaching a 19-month high. Furthermore, increased confidence towards the business outlook underpinned the […]

If you read the news regularly, you read about data breaches and massive hacks just about every week. That can make you a little nervous about safeguarding your financial information. A new MasterCard survey reveals you are not alone. Seventy-seven percent of consumers are anxious about their personal and financial information being hacked. In fact, the fear of a hack is higher than the fear of compromised […]

Pedestrians walk past a logo of Toshiba Corp outside an electronics retailer in Tokyo, Japan, June 25, 2015. Reuters/Yuya Shino/Files TOKYO An independent investigation of Toshiba Corp’s accounting irregularities is looking at the role played by top officials, people familiar with the matter said, a move that could force a management overhaul at the Japanese conglomerate. As the probe has widened from looking into accounting errors at […]

MID-YEAR OUTLOOK SHOWS GLOBAL GROWTH SLOWING   By S. Sethuraman   Global financial markets turned turbulent in the first week of July…

|By Matein Khalid| De Gaulle dissed gold as a “barbarous relic” and Lenin sneered the yellow metal was fit only to “pave capitalist latrines”. So what? Gold has been an monetary metal in human history for centuries, back to the time of Pharonic Egypt, the Inca Empire, King Midas and the Spanish conquistadores of Mexico. While President Nixon removed the gold/dollar Bretton Woods linkage in 1971 and […]

Dubai has overtaken other financial centres in listing Islamic bonds on its exchanges, and is mounting a global drive to attract more listings while developing new channels to trade sukuk, the chief executive of Nasdaq Dubai said. “Demand for Islamic financial products still exceeds supply — there are very few financial products for which this is true,” said Hamed Ahmed Ali. The exchange is working on ways […]

UAE. The representation of women on corporate boards continues to increase, but the number of women leading boards still remains low globally. Overall, women now hold 12 percent of seats worldwide with only 4 percent chairing boards, according to the fourth edition of the Women in the Boardroom: A Global Perspective, report by Deloitte. The report outlines the efforts of 49 countries to increase the number of […]

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UAE. Middle East employers must learn how to adapt to the unique demands of Generation Z in order to attract and retain new talent as we enter a new era of digital revolution, regional experts have warned. PA Consulting Group says failure to grasp how to motivate and communicate with this entrepreneurial group of people may threaten the survival of those organisations reluctant to change. A three-part […]

UAE. The global sukuk market is heading toward a correction in 2015 after the Central Bank of Malaysia (BNM)–one of the largest issuers of sukuk worldwide–stopped issuing earlier this year, says a report published today by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services. But as the report, titled “Global Sukuk Issuance Stalls In 2015 As Major Issuer Exits The Market,” points out, BNM’s move leaves the door open to […]

China’s biggest stock-market rout since 1992 has done nothing to erode the bullish outlook of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Kinger Lau, the bank’s China strategist in Hong Kong, predicts the large-cap CSI 300 Index will rally 27 percent over the next 12 months as government support measures boost investor confidence and monetary easing spurs economic growth. Leveraged positions aren’t big enough to trigger a market collapse, Lau […]

UAE. Non-oil private sector firms in the UAE reported the weakest improvement in business conditions since August 2013 during June. Marked slowdowns in growth of output and new business were at the forefront of the overall deceleration, while employment continued to rise at a solid pace. Meanwhile, inflationary pressures from both input costs and output charges were negligible. The survey, sponsored by Emirates NBD and produced by […]

Oil price flux unlikely to hit long-term sector growth BEIRUT, 13 hours, 17 minutes ago The cyclicality of the oil and gas industry is unlikely to impact the long term trajectory of the sector, a report said, noting that the current fluctuations may speed up some of the trends that were already unfolding. The new report entitled “Oil and Gas Reality Check 2015” released by Deloitte, a […]

INTERNATIONAL. Greece’s seeming hour-by-hour descent into chaos at the end of the second quarter has fashioned an intensely uncertain framework casting markets at the mercy of headline risk. It is with that ever-changing caveat that Saxo Bank publishes its Q3 Outlook ahead of the Greek referendum on EU membership which, as things stand, will take place July 5. The outlook for Q3, therefore hangs in the balance, […]

DUBAI // Staff should not be forced into making up “lost hours” because of the reduced working day during Ramadan, recruitment experts and the Ministry of Labour have warned. The ministry has ordered that the working day be cut by two hours during the holy month, for Muslim and non-Muslim staff. Companies that do not comply face punishments including having employees’ visas cancelled, which would be a […]

Saudi Arabia … expanding population base ofbrand-conscious consumers.Image: Bigstockphoto. For illustration only. Mall rental rates curbing retail growth in Saudi DUBAI, 15 hours, 58 minutes ago High rental rates in the top-tier malls are deterring the growth of Saudi Arabia’s retail market, a report said, noting that the kingdom is currently facing a great challenge due to scarcity of human resources owing to high attrition rates. Availability […]

UAE. Short-term real interest rates (US) will remain near zero for more than three years, according to the majority of institutional investors, academics and policy makers polled at the AQR Asset Management Institute’s inaugural Perspectives event, at London Business School. At the start, delegates were asked how much longer they expected short-term real interest rates (US) to remain near zero, with 38% answering more than three years. […]

UAE.  According to EY’s report ‘How will the GCC close the skills gap?’, employers struggle to retain nationals due to high salary expectations; however, these employers rank young people’s lack of work experience (53%), communications skills (36%), and required skills and qualifications (22%) as further challenges to retention in the private sector. Three quarters of GCC employers feel the education system doesn’t know what skills employers need. […]

BEIRUT, Lebanon — A Saudi prince pledged on Wednesday to give away his entire $32 billion fortune to charitable causes in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the world. The prince, Alwaleed bin Talal, said the funds would go to his charity, Alwaleed Philanthropies, for causes like disease eradication, intercultural understanding, women’s empowerment, disaster relief and the electrification of isolated areas. The new pledge by one of the […]

UAE. 85 percent of financial institutions from around the world reported that their boards of directors currently devote more time to oversight of risk than they did two years ago, while 79 percent felt that increasing regulatory requirements and expectations were their greatest challenge, according to the ninth edition of Deloitte’s Global risk management survey. In addition, the most common board responsibilities are approving the enterprise-level statement […]

|TAP Special|Emirates has released a point-by-point rebuttal of subsidy allegations, asserting that the US legacy carriers got the facts wrong, got the law wrong, and set their sights on an outcome that will be wrong for American consumers, communities and the national economy. This is the airline’s response to allegations of subsidy and unfair competition leveled by the “big three” US legacy carriers – Delta, United and […]

Shares of the biggest U.S. banks fell, led by a 2.2 percent decline in Citigroup Inc., after talks to provide Greece with additional bailout aid failed and the Greek government imposed capital controls. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Financials Index slid as much as 1.1 percent, the biggest decline in almost seven weeks. JPMorgan Chase & Co., the largest U.S. bank by assets, dropped 1.9 percent and […]

Dubai real estate developer Limitless has taken a step closer to securing a second restructuring on debt outstanding from Dubai’s property crash six years ago. It said on Monday it would repay 2.07 billion dirhams ($564 million) to creditors and has won the approval of almost 90 percent of banks to extend its remaining debt to December 2018. Limitless is seeking to follow in the footsteps of […]

Two freshly delivered Amazon boxes are seen on a counter in Golden, Colorado August 27, 2014. Reuters/Rick Wilking/Files   CHICAGO Amazon.com Inc will launch its business loan program for small sellers later this year in eight more countries including China, where credit is becoming a key factor in competing for new vendors and grabbing market share. Until now, the e-retailer has offered the service only in the […]

UAE. A new report by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a global management consulting firm and the world’s leading advisor on business strategy, delves into the challenges faced by Exploration & Production (E&P) companies here in the GCC region. The fact is, these are trying times for E&P companies globally. Following more than a decade of strong financial returns, the industry has experienced several difficult years caused […]

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