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Banking

Features : Best Laid Plans

MIDDLE EAST Determined to avoid repeating past mistakes, oil-rich nations in the Middle East have worked hard to diversify their economies. So far they have fared well, but pitfalls remain. Oil is integral to the Middle East's economic fortunes, ...

Banking

Emerging Markets : Sukuk Squeeze Triggers Debate

MIDDLE EAST Safa: Credit crunch could boost sukuk in the longer term. Asudden slowdown in the issuance of sukuk, or Islamic bonds, could be the result of the global credit crunch, a ruling by a committee ...

Emerging & Frontier Markets

Emerging Markets : Saudi Market Opens To Foreign Investors

MIDDLE EAST Dubai International Financial Center: Business is growing. The opening of Saudi Arabia’s stock exchange, the largest in the Arab world, to investors from outside the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) couldn’t have come at a better ...

Emerging & Frontier Markets

Emerging Markets : GE And Abu Dhabi Form $8 Billion Joint Venture

MIDDLE EAST Bright future: NYSE deal boosts Doha market. General Electric of the United States has formed an $8 billion joint venture with Mubadala Development, a sovereign wealth fund based in Abu Dhabi, to invest in emerging markets ...

Emerging & Frontier Markets

EM Investor : Global Investment House Issues First Kuwaiti Drs

DR NEWS Global Investment House, an asset management and investment banking company operating in 16 countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), has become the first Kuwait-based company to issue depositary receipts. The issue of 35% ...

Emerging & Frontier Markets

Emerging Markets: “Green” City Rising Near Abu Dhabi

MIDDLE EAST Sustainable development: Abu Dhabi plans to create an eco-friendly city. Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates, the world’s third-largest oil exporter, is building a $22 billion carbon-neutral city near its international airport. Known ...

Banking

GCC Report : Inflation Stalks The Gulf

REGIONAL REPORT: GCC / ECONOMIC UPDATE Currency pegs could come unglued as the region’s economies heat up. Just when it seemed that it couldn’t get any better for the oil-rich countries of the Gulf Cooperation ...

Banking

GCC Report: Move To Launching Pad

REGIONAL REPORT: GCC / CAPITAL MARKETS The region’s biggest exchanges, in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, are ready for liftoff. Al Sowailim: Saudi Arabia offers great opportunities for global investors. The volume of initial public offerings on ...

Banking

GCC Report: Shifting Gears

REGIONAL REPORT: GCC / COUNTRY PROFILE: QATAR Qatar has plenty of gas for the long drive to becoming a knowledge-based economy. Doha's constantly changing skyline illustrates Qatar's rapid growth. Qatar has the world’s third-largest reserves of ...

Emerging & Frontier Markets

Emerging Markets : Bankers Rush In As Oil Wealth Rises

MIDDLE EAST Dubai: Financial center is attracting global banks hungry for regional growth . New York-based Citi moved one of its top bankers to Dubai last month, while Standard Chartered of the United Kingdom opened the largest trading ...

Emerging & Frontier Markets

Emerging Markets : Inflation Flares But Cool Heads Prevail

MIDDLE EAST GCC monetary leaders are pressing ahead with plans for a single currency, despite pressures to revalue. Central bank governors from the six member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) gathered in Doha, Qatar, in April ...

Banking

Cover Story : From Bust To Boom

Middle East Lebanon’s banks are spreading their wings as they push for more growth in the Middle East’s key markets. Banks in downtown Beirut: Lebanon's financial institutions are expanding through the region. While the banking sector remains the backbone ...