Issues

Dear Reader, One of the more illustrious names to appear regularly in our pages is that of Dr Ahmad Mohamed Ali, president of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group, who recently voiced some of the most contentious issues said to be facing the multilateral development bank of the Muslim world and the Islamic finance industry per se. These are uniform …

Intra-regional trade in MENA is expected to see a big surge during the current decade, according to a senior HSBC executive. “In fact, it has the potential to double by the end of the decade to $300bn,” said Simon Cooper, deputy chairman and CEO, HSBC Middle East & North Africa, at the HSBC Regional Exchange-MENA conference held recently. “By building …

The National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) has been appointed as the financial adviser and lead arranger for fund raising by Cosmos, an investment, mining and holding company, headquartered in Kuala Lumpur and an affiliate of the Project Management & Development Company (PMD), based in the Al Jubail Industrial City in Saudi Arabia. The company will undertake the development of the …

Ashish Dass has been appointed the new regional director for Misys for the Middle East, Africa and South Asia, including India. Ashish Dass joins Misys, which provides banking software that delivers financial risk management to the world’s leading financial institutions, from 3i Infotech, where he spent a decade leading sales teams in the Middle East and Africa. “We have grown …

Tod Burwell, president and chief executive of BAFT-IFSA, the international association for transaction banking organisations, has praised the European Union for agreeing regulatory amendments that should help to shield trade finance from being squeezed by the new Basel III global banking standards. There was widespread concern that the Basel III capital requirements – designed to guard against a repeat of …

In collaboration with The Association des Credits d’Assurance au Liban (LCI), the Secretariat General of the Aman Union organised its third technical training programme for the staff of Arab and Islamic countries’ ECAs. It took place at LCI premises in Beirut this year, and the theme was,“Claims Recovery and Management, Political Risk Insurance and an Early Warning System.” The event, …

Deutsche Bank has announced the launch of an Accounts Receivable Manager (ARM) for SEPA, a corporate cash management solution designed to help global organisations streamline and simplify  the complexities of receivables management. Deutsche Bank developed ARM with PayPal, a leading global eCommerce company, to help manage euro receivables across Europe using a single consistent reconciliation process, “while also reducing administrative costs and …

Jyske Bank, a leading Danish bank, has commenced production with Surecomp’s end-to-end trade finance solution. The end-to-end solution comprises allNETT®, Surecomp’s Java Web-based trade finance front end, and IBSnet®, the vendor’s Windows-based back-office trade finance system. Founded in 1967 in Aarhus, the regional capital of the Jutland province, Jyske Bank was created following the merger of four local banks. Over …

SunGard, one of the world’s leading software and services companies, has announced that it will provide Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB), a top-tier Islamic financial institution, with retail banking solutions for better customer service and branch productivity. Wissam Khoury, managing director, SunGard Financial Systems, Middle East, said, “Retail banks in the Middle East face constant pressures to grow revenues, reduce …

Fraud and financial manipulation pose great risks for companies in MENA, and accounting and financial management need to sharpen their skills to help avoid this, says a new study. One in five employees of American firms operating in Europe, theMiddle East, India and Africa have become aware of financial manipulations in their companies in the past 12 months, according to …

Strong oil prices allied with an expansion in all non-hydrocarbon sectors boosted Abu Dhabi’s GDP by 7.7 per cent in current prices in 2012, according to official data. From around Dh846.68 billion in 2011, the emirate’s nominal GDP, the largest in the UAE, expanded to a record Dh911.59 billion in 2012, say figures issued by the Abu Dhabi Statistics Bureau. …

Noor Islamic Bank is targeting AED 5bn of lending to small-and-medium enterprises over the next five years with the launch of Noor Trade, an innovative, Shari’a compliant banking service specifically tailored for SMEs that contribute significantly to the UAE’s trade flows. In support of its Noor Trade strategy, Noor has opened its first dedicated trade branch in Almas Tower, home …

BNY Mellon has launched a new offering called Intraday Liquidity Analytics that will help clients address liquidity transparency and intraday overdraft coverage requirements under Basel III. A spokesman said, “Leveraging BNY Mellon’s collateral and cash management strengths, this new enhancement to the company’s TreasuryEdgeSM electronic banking platform helps clients better manage costs associated with intraday liquidity; reduce intraday overdrafts; and …

BARBARA S. ISMAIL, executive vice-president, Cash Management Matters, looks at the argument that says financial stringency as a cure for economic weakness may be the wrong action at the wrong time Common wisdom, as promulgated by the IMF and other supranational organizations, has been that austerity is the best medicine for ailing economies, and countries from Argentina to Thailand have …

New money has now entered the trade finance field to boost liquidity levels and reduce the risks involved. LIZ SALECKA explains who is behind the trend While collaborations between banks, entered on both a funded and unfunded basis, have done much to address growing demand for more – and ever larger – trade finance facilities, there is a growing recognition …

ALEXANDER R. MALAKET, president of OPUS Advisory Services International Inc., looks at the evolution of the ‘relationship and trust theme’ from concept to business practice and operation. In other words, from ‘discussion to action’ There has been a great deal of focus, particularly since the eruption of the financial crisis, on the importance of a trust and relationship-based approach to …