News Round

Delegates who attended the first Trade Finance for Bankers course at the Cash and Trade Training Academy voted it a total success, saying they were delighted with what they had learnt. The feedback from participants from leading MENA banks revealed that 100 per cent of them believed that as a result of attending the course they had a better understanding …

BNY Mellon, a global leader in investment management and investment services, in conjunction with the Exporta group and its leading industry publications, has announced the preliminary results of a comprehensive survey entitled Attitudes to Global Transaction Banking. Drawing on responses from banks, financial institutions, corporations and government/multilateral bodies, it addresses topics such as regulation, funding, technology, cash management, and supply …

Learning from peers is key to fulfilling the chief financial officer’s increasingly demanding role, according to ICAEW, a world leader in the accountancy and finance profession. Recently, it gathered selected CFOs to its first ever CFO Club event in Bahrain to discuss corporate governance challenges and encourage networking. Peter Beynon, regional director, ICAEW Middle East, commented, “The role of the …

Dubai, UAE and Copenhagen, Denmark, December 12, 2012 Kim Sindberg and Lakshmanan Sankaran have released the “Pocket Guide Series for International Trade.” It is a Trade Finance App for iPad and iPhone. The name of the App is “Pocket Guide Series for International Trade.” It is a series of short and convenient guides related to international trade, similar to the …

The future evolution of Middle East banking and financial services topped the agenda at the fourth SunGard City Day held in Dubai recently. Organised by SunGard, one of the world’s leading software and technology services companies, the annual event is a forum for senior capital markets specialists, corporate and retail bankers and finance IT professionals. Wissam Khoury, managing director, SunGard …

The Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit, (ICIEC) and a member of the Islamic Development Bank Group, had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the National Commercial Bank (NCB) of Saudi Arabia. It provides co-operation between the two organisations in supporting SMEs operating in the Kingdom and encouraging them to export. Under the memorandum, ICIEC …

The $58 trillion global asset-management industry faces rising headwinds and its growth has stalled, putting the industry’s attractive economics at risk, according to a report released by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Entitled Capturing Growth in Adverse Times: Global Asset Management 2012, the report provides the findings of BCG’s tenth annual study of the worldwide asset-management industry. Asset managers collectively …

The National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) has opened a representative office in Shanghai, beginning its operations in mainland China. Founded in 1968, NBAD, in addition to its massive domestic network, has the largest international presence among all UAE banks, with more than 50 overseas business units located in 14 countries. NBAD enjoys one of the strongest combined ratings among …

Bottomline Technologies, a leading provider of payment, invoice and banking solutions, has announced that Jim Conning has became director of payments for the EMEA region. He will be responsible for driving growth and increasing market penetration. “Banks and corporates increasingly need to find new ways of enabling competitive differentiation through operational efficiency and straight through processing, which the Bottomline suite …

Standard Chartered Bank has announced the launch of the industry’s first Islamic Euro Nostro[1]Account. Islamic banks across the world will now be able to earn Sharia-compliant profits on their account balances at Standard Chartered Bank’s branch in Frankfurt. Bank Alfalah, one of the leading banks in Pakistan, was the first to sign an agreement with Standard Chartered for an Islamic …

SABB, for the fifth consecutive year, has been recognised by Euromoney magazine as “The Best Cash Management Bank in Saudi Arabia” for 2012. This achievement comes on the heels of being awarded the “Best Bank in Saudi Arabia” title by the same publication. The cash management award is based on feedback from CFOs, treasurers, cash management managers and financial officers …

The Islamic Development Bank Group has signed a service agreement with Misys, the global provider of financial application software and services for banking and capital markets, to enhance the treasury and investment departments within the IDB Group. Misys will provide various solutions, including Opics Plus, Opics Risk Plus, Sophis VALUE and Eagleye, to enhance the capacity of the treasury and …

Gulf banks are expected to continue their steady recovery from the 2008 crisis and remain isolated from eurozone turmoil for the rest of 2012 and 2013, according to a Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services report. “We believe the trend of declining loan loss provisions will continue for most of the banks in the Gulf Cooperation Council, resulting in further recovery …

The UAE’s real economy expanded by around 3.2 per cent in 2011 mainly because of higher oil prices and production and is projected to pick up by about 3.5 per cent in 2012, according to a UN group. The other members of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are also expected to record strong GDP performance through 2012 in contrast …

Deutsche Bank’s global transaction banking (GTB) division has announced key appointments in its trust and securities services and cash management for financial institutions (TSS/CMFI) business, including four TSS/CMFI region heads who will be responsible for strengthening local relationships, aligning the bank’s global resources and providing clients with bespoke solutions and services. Sriram Iyer will assume the new role of TSS/CMFI …

More than $76bn of Gulf bond and sukuk debt is expected to mature by 2014, according to Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) research. Around $20.6bn of sukuk and bond is expected to mature this year, $14bn in 2013 and a massive $41.4bn in 2014, according to the Kuwait-based investment bank. In total, there is around $205.6bn of outstanding debt and sukuk …