UAE Central Bank

Overall liquidity in UAE banking system back to pre-Covid levels – Central Bank

The Central Bank of the UAE projects the country’s real GDP to increase by 2.5 per cent in 2021

Online insurance platform PolicyBazaar raises $75m to fund UAE, Middle East expansion

PolicyBazaar allows users to purchase life and general insurance online

Pure Harvest Smart Farms

UAE-based Pure Harvest Smart Farms raises $60m in new funding round

Shuaa Capital led a $50m structured sukuk for Pure Harvest co-investing with Franklin Templeton and Sancta Capital

Dubai’s DIFC Investments full-year profit declines 74%

Full-year profit net income fell to $31m

Cover story: The key regional investment trends focusing on the wealth of the future

The pandemic has further emphasised the need for diversification among investors, reveal AIX Investment Group’s board advisor Fadi Dabbagh and senior financial advisor Khalid El-Mikhi

Saudi wealth fund raises year’s third-biggest loan for new deals

The $400bn sovereign investor is key to the kingdom’s efforts to revive economic growth

Bahrain

Bahrain bank waives loan fees for vaccinated customers

Al Salam Bank is waiving administrative fees for personal and property facilities

Investcorp is said to raise $1bn for North American deals

The money manager is the Gulf’s largest private investor in US real estate

UAE’s Arrow Capital backs $240m tech-centric SPAC listing on Nasdaq

Tribe Capital Growth Corp I will target the tech sector

Women’s Voice: My successful journey in a male-dominated industry

We have not yet reached gender parity – women today are still under-leveraged and undervalued in the workforce, says Invesco’s Zainab Kufaishi

Women’s Voice: How can we achieve gender equality in the financial space?

There is a lot of work that can be done by organisations to ensure more women are being considered for jobs and promotions

International Holding Company

Abu Dhabi’s International Holding Company reports Dhs3bn net profit for 2020

IHC’s total assets increased to Dhs14bn as of December 31, 2020, from Dhs4bn a year earlier

UAE’s first independent digital banking platform launched

Over 25,000 applicants pre-registered in the past two months to use the app

Akshay Chopra, Vice-President, Head of Product Innovation and Design for CEMEA and Africa copy

How mobile network operators can drive the next wave of financial inclusion in MENA

Mobile network operators have direct access to a large customer base that includes the harder-to-reach segments of the underbanked and unbanked

Bitcoin jumps above $50,000 in recovery from latest rout

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are also driving growing interest from mainstream investors in Canada

Etisalat du credit score

Etisalat, du to rely more heavily on UAE credit rating score for new postpaid customers

With the addition of Etisalat and du’s data, AECB’s customer information database stands at 9 million individuals and 600,000 companies

Anghami

MENA music streaming platform Anghami merges with Vistas Media, to list on Nasdaq New York

The agreement will result in Anghami becoming the first Arab technology company to list on Nasdaq New York

Shailesh Dash

Phi Trends: Are digital currencies the next big thing?

The reward from hopping onto the digital currency bandwagon is imminent, states entrepreneur and investor Shailesh Dash

Saudi wealth fund may close its biggest-ever loan deal this week

The Public Investment Fund is raising about $15bn from a group of international banks to finance new investments

DIFC employee savings plan locks in $127m in assets under management in first year

Within one year, 19,182 members of the DIFC workforce have been enrolled in the plan

HSBC appoints Mohammed Al Marzouqi as head of global banking in the UAE

Mohammed was previously head of Abu Dhabi coverage for HSBC global banking

NCB, Samba shareholders approve merger to create Saudi National Bank, kingdom’s biggest lender

Operations under the new name and structure are planned to start on April 1, 2021

ADCB expands mortgage business, acquires portfolio from Abu Dhabi Finance

Customers are expected to transfer to the ADCB banking platform during the first half of 2021

First Abu Dhabi Bank

First Abu Dhabi Bank approves Dhs8.08bn cash dividends for 2020

The bank recorded a a full year 2020 net profit of Dhs10.6bn

Yemen

UAE provided over $6bn in assistance to Yemen since 2015, pledges another $230m

The amount will help fund international programmes that meet the medical, nutritional, and food security needs of the country

UAE Central Bank fines individual Dhs600,000 under anti-money laundering law

The fine was imposed because the individual had no authorisation to undertake a function that required prior approval from the Central Bank

U.A.E. Financial Markets Following Veil Lift on Debt

UAE raises daily decline limit in shares back to 10% from February 28

Authorities had reduced the cap to 5 per cent in March 2020 to contain the fluctuations triggered by the pandemic

UAE Exchange suitor in merger talks with Bahrain-headquartered BFC Group

Merger of Finablr assets and BFC would create regional financial services giant

Saudi Arabia turns to Euro-bond amid near record-low yields

The kingdom is planning a two-part, benchmark-sized deal with a three-year and nine-year offering

Kuwait projects $183bn cumulative deficit over five years

Total expenses during that period are projected at KD114.1bn