Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala to invest $2bn in partnership with Silver Lake

Abu Dhabi’s sovereign investor to acquire minority stake in the US-based venture capital firm

Abu Dhabi’s ADNOC begins derivatives trading

The new offices of ADNOC’s trading entities are located in Abu Dhabi’s International Financial Centre

Shailesh Dash main

Phi Trends: Cloud computing and big data – the way forward

Rising global digitisation due to the pandemic has been a catalyst for companies in the cloud computing and data analytics space, opines entrepreneur and investor Shailesh Dash

Open Banking set to transform finance in the GCC

Gulf Business talks to Wissam Khoury, head of international at Finastra, on the state of Open Banking in the GCC

Egypt prepares to issue region’s first green sovereign bond

Egypt seeks to raise $500m from the offering

Abu Dhabi’s ADGM appoints administrators for NMC Health

The legal guardianship will protect the group from creditors’ actions

BinDawood acquisition

Saudi BinDawood delays listing to disclose related-party deals

With the offering already more than 50 times oversubscribed, the delay is not currently expected to significantly affect the final pricing

Dafza Israel

Dubai Airport Free Zone Authority signs agreement with Israeli Chamber of Commerce

DAFZA will provide incentives to Israeli companies wishing to establish their businesses within the emirate

Why GCC banks and fintech startups must realign their interests for greater good

Traditional lenders and fintech players can grow simultaneously, offering customers a myriad of services

Kuwait gets first Moody’s downgrade over ‘liquidity risks’

Moody’s now ranks Kuwait two steps lower than Fitch Ratings and one below S&P Global Ratings

Saudi Arabia is ‘assessing all options’ to stimulate economy

Saudi Arabia’s economy is expected to contract 4.8 per cent in 2020 before growing by 3.2 per cent next year

UAE banks avail Dhs44.72bn of TESS liquidity scheme by end July

A total of Dhs44.38bn has been withdrawn until end June

KBBO hires restructuring expert for $2bn debt revamp

The privately-held investment firm with assets in health care and food named Bruno Navarro as its chief restructuring officer

DP World, Bank Leumi to explore Israel logistics investments

The UAE last week signed an agreement to move toward establishing normal ties with Israel

Dubai’s Emirates Islamic closes $500m sukuk issuance

Bank ABC, Citigroup, Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates NBD Capital, and HSBC, among others acted as joint lead managers and bookrunners for the transaction

HSBC shares fall to 25-year low on China fears, banks report

Europe’s largest bank has been named as a possible candidate for China’s “unreliable entity list”

How the regional wealth management model is set to evolve?

The adoption rate for digital wealth management solutions has increased dramatically during the pandemic

The role of GCC banks in promoting regional economic growth

Evolution of the regional banking ecosystem has propelled economic growth in recent years, and continues to progress apace

Abu-Dhabi

Abu Dhabi Investment Office to open first international branch in Tel Aviv

ADIO will subsequently open offices in Europe, North America and Asia

Emirates NBD

Dubai’s Emirates NBD signs MoU with Bank Leumi Le-Israel

Bank Leumi currently holds approximately 30 per cent market share in the Israeli banking system

Kuwait bourse debuts in region’s best 1st-day pop for a year

Boursa Kuwait joins Dubai Financial Market and Tel Aviv Stock Exchange as publicly traded regional exchanges

Emirates NBD

Dubai’s Emirates NBD enters into MoU with Israel’s Bank Hapoalim

The agreement will allow Israeli clients to transact directly in the UAE

Gulf International Bank to hire advisers for Dollar bond

The bonds are likely to be offered as soon as this week

Kuwait parliament approves state budget with $46bn deficit

Kuwait’s deficit last fiscal year widened to KD5.64bn, up almost 69 per cent from a year earlier

Oman to tap investors to plug budget deficit

Besides signing a bridge loan for OMR770m and issuing OMR550m in development bonds this year, Oman has also been tapping its reserves and privatising some assets

Bahrain offers dollar bond, sukuk to plug growing budget gap

Bahrain is on course to rack up a deficit that the International Monetary Fund projects will be at 15.7 per cent of gross domestic product

Venture capital investment in fintech remains steady; M&A activity recedes – report

The EMEA region witnessed $4.6bn in fintech investment in the first half of 2020

UAE spending

UAE federal budget records Dhs9.75bn surplus in H1 2020

The federal government’s total revenues were reported at Dhs34.7bn

How digital transformation enabled Al Salam Bank Bahrain to weather the Covid-19 storm

Rafik Nayed, group CEO, Al Salam Bank Bahrain, discusses the bank’s digital strategy in the Covid era with Gulf Business

Israel’s two biggest banks sending delegations to UAE

The normalisation process announced last month is the first between Israel and a Gulf Arab state