Dubai

Dubai issues $2bn in sukuk and bonds at lowest ever interest rate

Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates NBD, First Abu Dhabi Bank, HSBC, and Standard Chartered Bank were mandated to manage the issuance process

Abu Dhabi issues $5bn multi-tranche, 50-year bond

The 50-year tranche is the longest term for a bond issued by a GCC sovereign issuer

First Abu Dhabi Bank

First Abu Dhabi Bank to start talks with Israeli lenders

The decision follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the UAE central bank and the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office

Commercial Bank of Kuwait taps Thales for contactless payment technology

Thales technology will digitise credit and debit cards available on CBK app

Shailesh Dash

Phi Trends: How Covid-19 has accelerated healthtech

The crisis has opened up many growth avenues for healthtech ventures, which are attracting a significant amount of investor interest, opines entrepreneur and investor Shailesh Dash, who shares his market perspective in this monthly column

UAE investor with $540m in cash says M&A spree not over

The Abu Dhabi-based company has amassed a portfolio spanning real estate to utilities and health care to food services

Abu Dhabi Investment Office Invest in Israel

Abu Dhabi Investment Office and Invest in Israel outline upcoming areas of collaboration

The collaboration will focus on innovation and technology

Emirates NBD, DMCC partner to ease payment process for freezone members

A zero per cent credit card installment plan has been introduced for a wide range of DMCC services

Delivery Hero picks Mastercard to digitise payments across MENA

The project spans the GCC, Jordan and Egypt for Talabat, HungerStation and Zomato

data centre

Delma Exchange picks BIOS Middle East for cloud hosting

Delma Exchange turns IT Infrastructure from CAPEX to OPEX

Kuwait finance ministry to mull halving $66bn debt ceiling

The finance and economic committee has also suggested reducing the period for borrowing

Saudi Arabia reserves grew in July from lowest level since 2010

The government could still face a budget deficit of over 13 per cent of gross domestic product in 2020

Bahrain plans return to debt market with mix of bonds, sukuk

Bahrain is under fiscal strain despite a $10bn bailout package pledged by its wealthier neighbours in 2018

Top Dubai, Israeli banks seek to cooperate after peace deal

Discussions between Bank Leumi and Emirates NBD Bank are at an early stage and no final decisions have been made

State of the global Islamic economy: Eyeing new frontiers

With Muslim consumers across the world seeking out faith-based products and services, the Islamic economy is seeing robust growth among all its different verticals

Abu Dhabi’s Yas Theme Parks to accept Alipay

Chinese tourists can pay using the highly popular digital payment platform

Saudi Aramco appoints new CEO for $500m investment arm

Mahdi Aladel, who formerly led the state energy producer’s base oils and lubricants division, will take over

Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait, Ithmaar Holding discuss acquisition plans

The plans, subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals, are still in the preliminary discussions phase

Abu Dhabi hedge fund makes $300m emerging-market wager

The manager has already moved about 90 per cent of that money into markets such as China and India, after cutting some positions in developed markets

Top UAE banks signal slow recovery for Q3 2020 – report

Second-quarter net profit for UAE-based top banks jumps 21 per cent

Abu Dhabi returns to dollar bond market with multi-tranche deal

Abu Dhabi raised $7bn in April also through a three-tranche bond offering

UAE exchanges, financial centres partner with Aurora50 to drive gender diversity

Aurora50 is initiating the discussion around board-level gender diversity with a virtual event

Adeeb Ahamed New

LuLu Financial Holdings’ MD Adeeb Ahamed on the Covid crisis, remittances and plans ahead

UAE-based LuLu Exchange contributes to nearly 1.7 per cent of the global remittance inflows, reveals Ahamed

Mideast equity markets mixed with oil prices in focus

Kuwait’s main equity index led losses in the region

Dubai Financial Services Authority

Technology, operational resilience critical to the future of financial services

A stable financial sector is key to sustainable growth

Market cap of UAE-listed companies crosses Dhs1 trillion mark

On August 19, the listed public joint stock companies booked Dhs11.7bn in gains

Sheikh-Mohammed Dubai

Sheikh Mohammed outlines new law for family-owned businesses in Dubai

The validity of a family ownership contract can extend up to 15 years, after which it must be renewed

Kuwait can’t pay salaries beyond October, minister tells Parliament

The government estimates a budget deficit of KD14bn in the current fiscal year

Fitch follows Moody’s by downgrading Oman deeper into junk again

Fitch’s latest downgrade brings its ranking of Oman to the same level as that of Moody’s Investors Service and S&P Global Ratings.

Fintech industry growing by 18% annually in Saudi Arabia: report

Fintech transactions in the kingdom amounted to over $20bn by the end of 2019