Press Releases

Kingdom of Bahrain – 17th September 2017: NEC Payments B.S.C (c), a payments technology company based in Bahrain, has been awarded the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS v3.2) certification by SISA Information Security WLL, the largest Qualified Security Assessor company in GCC, in recognition of its continuing compliance with one of the most stringent and coveted international …

Emirates NBD Asset Management is now managing 3 risk-graded Shari’a compliant strategies for Al Hilal Takaful’s customers, Bahrain’s leading Takaful provider Al Hilal will have access to global sukuk, global equity, MENA equity and emerging market opportunities funds Emirates NBD Asset Management’s AuM reached USD 4.49 bn as at 31st July 2017 Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 27 August 2017: Emirates …

HOBOKEN, NJ, August 23, 2017 – Surecomp®, the leading global provider of trade finance solutions for banks and corporations, announced today the successful implementation of two products, allNETT® and IMEX®, with the Bank of Cyprus. Surecomp’s front office allNETT solution and back office IMEX solution will together provide the Bank of Cyprus seamless, straight through processing of their trade finance …

– CREATION OF 200 MILLION SQUARE FEET LAND BANK IN THE REGION Bahrain – 15 August 2017: GFH Financial Group (“GFH”) today announced that it has completed the acquisition of USD 1.2bn infrastructure portfolio in Africa and Middle East. The acquisition comes as part of GFH’s new strategy approved in the last shareholders’ Extraordinary General Meeting in March 2017 and …

Nominal yeilds weigh down investment grade and developed governrnent bonds’ attractiveness Strength of the structural growth in technology as well as a cyclical recovery in the financial industry should be important drivers for further gains in Emerging Markets 7 August 2017 Dubai, UAE: Barclays’ Private Bank released its Q3 2017 “Compass” Report, which examines major asset classes globally. The latest …

Amman, Jordan, 30 July, 2017 – Arab Bank Group announced its results for the first half of 2017 reporting net income after tax of USD 415.2 million as compared to USD 424.9 million for the corresponding period of 2016. The results were driven by solid growth in underlying core revenues and were achieved despite the impact of the translation effect …

Bana Akkad Azhari, Head of Sales & Relationship Management MEA and the CIS, Treasury Services EMEA, BNY Mellon, discusses how fintech can transform the trade landscape in the Middle East. Recent years have heralded a new, dynamic “fintech era”. Global investment has skyrocketed – reaching US$23.2 billion in 2016, up from US$12 billion in 2014[1]. Yet, the vast majority of …

ITFC and IFC Partner for the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in common member countries Geneva : The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) and the International Financial Corporation (IFC) signed a Letter of Intent for Partnership with the aim to intensifying and reinforcing their joint work and cooperation to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The signing took …

Meem in Bahrain offers state of the art digital banking for customers in the GCC 28 June 2017: Gulf International Bank (GIB) is pleased to announce that it has been granted a conventional retail banking licence in the Kingdom of Bahrain by the Central Bank of Bahrain. Commenting on the announcement GIB’s Chairman, His Excellency Mr. Jammaz bin Abdullah Al-Suhaimi, …

Solid pace of growth in world economy expected despite elevated geopolitical risks 27 June 2017, Dubai – The world economy is showing decent signs of growth for H2, although momentum is expected to moderate somewhat. Europe’s growth is above trend, and the lack of significant tightening by the European Central Bank (ECB) should sustain it, with Asia still the main …

SWIFT gpi industry challenge fosters collaborative innovation between banks and FinTech companies from around the world and the region Brussels, 28 June 2017 – SWIFT invites FinTech companies from around the world and the region to develop new overlay services that leverage its SWIFT global payments innovation (gpi) platform. SWIFT will provide funding of up to 200,000 EUR for the …

Frankfurt, Germany, June 6, 2017 – Surecomp®, a leading provider of global trade solutions for banks and corporates, concluded today a comprehensive event which attracted over twenty attendees from fifteen leading European banks and corporate clients. The program was entitled ‘E-Banking and Front Office 2020’ and took place in the heart of Frankfurt, Germany’s financial center. ‘E-Banking and Front Office …

UAE ranks second best in its improvement of digital services provided by the government, according to BCG’s 2016 Digital Government Survey Dubai, 12 June, 2017 — The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has the second highest net perception of service improvement over the past two years globally and ranks first in terms of the highest levels of satisfaction for services in …

Paris, 16th June 2017 Following a stakeholder consultation started in 2016 to determine industry requirements, PRETA commits to providing a compliance-driven directory solution to support market actors in meeting PSD2 access-to-account provisions. Today PRETA, a wholly-owned subsidiary of EBA CLEARING, announced the launch of a directory project to support payment service providers (PSPs) and third party providers (TPPs) in meeting …

Paris, 14th June 2017 The paper focusses on pan-European infrastructure considerations for a successful roll-out and ramp-up of real-time payments across Europe EBA CLEARING issued today a white paper on how to ensure a smooth take-off for euro instant payments across Europe. The paper presents key factors for a successful ramp-up of real-time payments, such as payment certainty and reach, …

  Corporate treasurers can now find out where a payment is at any given time Brussels, 11 June 2017 – SWIFT announces today the availability of its new cross-border payments Tracker that enables international payments to be traced in real-time. The Tracker is the cornerstone of SWIFT gpi – the cooperative’s new payments innovation service – which is revolutionizing the …