Issue 10 July / August 2011

Dear Reader, It’s always a pleasure for a magazine to say that it has an exclusive. So it’s a double pleasure for us to announce that in this issue we have two! The first is an interview with Dr Abdul Rahman El Tayeb Ali Taha, head of the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC). As …

  New financial services upgrades are aimed at turning Doha into a major business centre. PAUL MELLY reports on theconsiderable progress being made Ambition is never lacking in Qatar. This is a country that has sought to carve out its own specialist niche in the Gulf financial market, undeterred by the competitive challenge presented by more established hubs such as …

Middle Eastern corporates’ growing demand for structured financing, coupled with pressure on local banks to compete more effectively with their global counterparts, is spearheading the adoption of modern-day, automated trade finance solutions across the region. LIZ SALECKA reports   A number of local banks are responding to their corporate customers’ needs by investing in new platforms that provideonline access to …

Trade finance and corporate banking in the KSA closed 2010 on a very positive note and are both poised for further growth in 2011, comments CAROLINE MAGINN, trade partner at CMM   The Tajara Monitor Full Year report revealed that in 2010 Riyad Bank narrowly held on to its lead position but is now challenged by a resurgent national Commercial Bank, whilst …

Corporates and banks in the Middle East face a variety of challenges when it comes to both cash management and trade fi nance. Here, Asif Raza, Vivek Anand, Farrukh Siddiqui and Ali Moosa explain to LIZ SALECKA how J.P. Morgan is helping its corporate and fi nancial institution clients to overcome these challenges and detail some of the bank’s latest …

The Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit has boosted its business enormously thanks in the main to its academic-cum-economist chief executive officer. MUSHTAK PARKER speaks exclusively to Dr Abdul Rahman El Tayeb Ali Taha The Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and export Credit (ICIEC) has never had it so good. as the only multilateral …

Kuwaiti-based GNL has become ‘the world’s first Shariah-compliant insurance broker offering premium takaful and re-takaful commercial risk solutions in the UK capital’. In this exclusive report, MUSHTAK PARKER charts the background and reveals the future Can you imagine a priest or rabbi encouraging a financial institution to engineer a specific product to fill the need of a potentially huge gap …

The Saudi British Bank (SABB) has been named the “Most active Confirming Bank in the Middle East & North Africa and supporter of sMe Trade” by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) for the second consecutive year. This award is unique, as the recognition is based purely on the actual business generated along with the nature and number of …

J.P. Morgan has launched a full range of trade finance products – including those concerned with documents, guarantees and structured export and import finance trade – through the J P Morgan Chase Bank Riyadh branch. This will help Saudi-based companies trading internationally and global MNCs to deliver their business in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Arabia-based trade finance capabilities extend J.P. …

Dubai Trade and dubai Islamic Bank (dIB) has signed an agreement to integrate the banks’ direct debit services with the portal’s e-payment gateway rosoom. Th e partnership will enable supply chain companies using dubai Trade portal to access their dIB accounts online and execute monetary transactions seamlessly. Rosoom, the e-payment gateway for the online services of dP World, Jafza and …

Barclays Bank plans to increase its activity in the Mena region. Recently, Matt Tuck, head of financial institutions at Barclays Corporate, visited the Middle East for the second time since his appointment in november 2010. his focus was on continuing to build existing and new relationships with banks across the region, “leveraging Barclays’ footprint and off ering tailored solutions for …

Habib Bank has licensed Misys BankFusion Equation to “reinforce its leadership in the Pakistani banking industry” by helping improve its online banking services and serve its trade finance and treasury customers more effectively. It’s said that the new BankFusion Equation core banking solution will enable the bank to enhance operational efficiency and increase its ability to respond quickly to customers’ …

  Mubasher Financial Services (MFS), one of the Middle East’s top online trading platforms, has announced that HS BC’s payments and cash management team will be implementing its SWIFTNet payment integration services “to enhance the speed and security of stock payments processed by MFS”. The solution – the first of its kind for HS BC in the region – is …

Moody’s Investors Service, one of the leading rating agencies in the world, has re-affirmed the Aa3 insurance financial strength rating assigned to the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC) for the first time in April 2008 and confirmed in October 2009. The agency noted that ICIEC’s rating reflected both its stand-alone fundamentals as well as …

Sibos, the world’s most influential financial services event, is for the first time ever to be held in the Middle East. The host will be Dubai, which will be putting its World Trade Centre at the organisation’s disposal in September 2013. For more than three decades the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) has organised Sibos, which is recognised …