News Round

EastNets, a global provider of compliance and payment solutions, has announced that it has obtained the SWIFTReady–workers remittance conformance label for 2011. en.MoRe is the first application in the workers’ remittances programme offering a mobile payments functionality between a Telco operator and a receiving bank.

HSBC chose Sibos as the place to announce the launch of the next generation of HSBC Connect to SAP, HSBC’s corporate-to-bank integration and treasury solution catering to corporate customers that use SAP Enterprise Resource Planning software.

HSBC has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Islamic Development Bank’s International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) to implement its Shariah-compliant trade financing and provide help on various treasury activities such as joint trade financing and investment of liquidity.

Quite apart from the growing risks evident in the global economy, the regional turmoil known as the “Arab Spring” resulted in sharp stock market corrections and an extreme dearth of new issuance activity in the equity, bond, and sukuk markets alike, NCB said in its report GCC Financial Market Quarterly: Back to Square One.

Arab Financial Services (AFS), a leading provider of electronic payments and consumer finance outsourcing services in the Middle East, has recently announced the renewal of its VisionPLUS licence agreement with First Data, a global leader in electronic commerce and payment solutions.

Naveed Sultan has been appointed global head of treasury and trade solutions at Citi, reporting to global transaction services (GTS) CEO Francesco Vanni d’Archirafi. He will manage Citi’s cash management and trade services business with reported revenues of $7.2bn in 2010.

The historic credit downgrading of the United States, the world’s largest economy, will have no impact on UAE banks as they have no investment in US securities, according to Hammam Al Shamma, an adviser at the Abu Dhabi-based Al Fajr Securities, one of the UAE’s largest stocks and investment services firms.

A seminar to discuss ways of combating viruses that target financial institutions was held recently in Dubai, having been organised by the UAE Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), represented by the Computer Emergency Response Team (AECERT). TRA is making efforts to provide a secure cyber space for users in the UAE, and protect them from potential attacks. The AECERT team plays …

Dominic Broom has been appointed head of sales and relationship management for BNY Mellon Treasury Services, Europe, Middle East and Africa. He reports to Alan Verschoyle-King, head of global sales and client management for BNY Mellon Treasury Services. Broom joined BNY Mellon Treasury Services as head of market development EMEA in 2006. He has many years of experience in the …

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 …

Burgan Bank has announced that it is launching a range of corporate cash management products and services for its corporate banking clients. These include traditional and new commercial banking services. Raed Al Haqhaq, chief banking officer-senior general manager, said, “We are delighted to introduce a wide variety of specialised products and services offering cost-effective end-to-end banking solutions that optimise cash …