July 23, 2017

QNB Group, the largest financial institution in the Middle East and Africa, has recently commenced operations in the city of Mumbai, the economic capital of the Republic of India.

The start of the Group’s operations in the Republic of India comes in support of its vision to become a leading bank in the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia by 2020, in addition to establishing a foothold in highly competitive markets.

Through its new branch in India, the Group offers a full spectrum of"...

July 22, 2017

Despite economic headwinds and lower oil prices, insurance markets in the Middle East have remained resilient on the back of a surge in gross written premiums in two of the region's largest markets - the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

While the UAE insurance market, which exceeded the $10 billion gross written premiums mark, was supported by the roll-out of the mandatory Dubai health scheme (premium growth of 19 per cent in 2016), recent premium growth in other Middle east and North Africa insurance markets has been subdued, according to EY's report 'Insurance Opportunities in the Middle East.'

On"...

July 22, 2017

The UAE Banks Federation, UBF, has announced that it has secured the support of the Central Bank for its initiative that aims to develop a unified framework to handle customer complaints.

The UBF is a professional body representing 48 member banks operating in the UAE.

'The proposed framework was developed as part of the UBF’s continued efforts to enhance customer experience, as well as bring higher levels of transparency and efficiency in addressing the concerns of the bank customers in the UAE. The Central Bank’s blessing for the framework paves the"...

July 21, 2017

The assets of 13 UAE banks have surged to AED1.41 trillion by the end of the H1 2017, a growth of 6.8 percent from AED1.31 trillion in the corresponding period in 2016.

Data revealed by the 13 listed banks until July 20, 2017, indicated an increase to AED963 billion in deposits by the end of the same period this year, 8.2 percent up from AED890 billion in the same period last year.

According to the UAE Central Bank May report, the banking sector solvency reached 18.6 percent, reflecting the resilience of the banking system in the country and its conformity with international"...

July 20, 2017

Emirates NBD (ENBD), a leading bank in the region, delivered a record set of results for the first half (H1) of the year with a net profit of Dh3.9 billion ($ 1.06 billion) as compared to a net profit of Dh3.7 billion during the same period in 2016, marking a rise of five per cent.

Net interest income improved 2 per cent year-on-year due to loan growth and helped by a recent improvement in margins. Net interest margin improved since the beginning of the year as loans reset at higher rates and funding costs improved as liquidity conditions eased. The operating performance was also supported by a control on expenses and lower provisions. The bank’s"...

July 20, 2017

(ME NewsWire)-- Marc Firestone, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Philip Morris International (NYSE/Euronext Paris: PM), today appeared as an invited witness before the Commission on Security and Cooperation to offer expert testimony in support of the Commission’s objective of addressing the security and economic threats posed by the illicit trade in tobacco. The hearing was held on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

The Commission is a bipartisan body of the United States Congress with representation from the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate.

“PMI"...

July 19, 2017

The astonishing story of a woman who built up debts of AED700,000 before taking the banks who lent her the money to court, says a lot about consumer habits, our courts system and banking practices in the UAE, an editorial in a local English language daily has said.

According to The National, the woman represented herself in all three cases she brought against financial institutions and while she settled with one bank, the court ruled in her favour in two other cases. Not only was her debt wiped out, but the court ordered the financial institutions to pay her a lump sum in compensation.

The"...

July 19, 2017

The Ministry of Finance (MoF) has assigned Emirates Development Bank (EDB), to create an electronic register to publicise related rights to ‘Mortgage of Movable Property’.

Khalid Ali Al Bustani, Assistant Under-Secretary of International Financial Relations Sector at the ministry and Rashid Mahboob Misbah, Acting CEO of EDB, in Dubai signed an agreement to this effect. The collaboration aims to provide a legal and legislative environment for companies and projects to pledge their movable properties as security for loans from banks and financial institutions. The register grants the public access to the database.

The"...

July 19, 2017

(ME NewsWire)-- Continuing its quest to democratize investing for all, The invest.com Group is today announcing an upcoming token generation event for Stox, a new prediction-based trading platform. invest.com was founded in 2014, employs a team of 200 across five countries, has 3M registered clients, and generated $50M in annual revenue for 2016. Stox will be issued as a smart token using the Bancor protocol, which the team has evaluated to be the best blockchain based liquidity solution. STX will hold BNT in its reserve which would guarantee continuous and high liquidity, enabling anyone to purchase STX directly through the smart token with Ether, as well as liquidate STX back to Ether — notably, with low slippage and no spread. “We are excited to collaborate with Stox and support their effort to become a pioneer member in the Bancor network. We believe that the guaranteed liquidity and the stability of STX will benefit token holders, the Stox project at large and provide a strong case study for the Bancor protocol,” said Eyal Hertzog, Chief of Product, Bancor. This token generation event will allow Stox to develop a prediction market trading platform that allows STX holders to use crowdsourced information and their own predictions to forecast the outcome of any event, across a wide range of categories. Smart contracts will manage the reconciliation based on the probability of outcomes, crowd sizes......

July 19, 2017

(ME NewsWire)-- Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE: ADM) announced today that it has completed its acquisition of a controlling interest in Industries Centers, which will now be known as ADM Israel.

“By combining ADM’s unparalleled global network with the experience and capabilities of Industries Centers, ADM Israel offers customers in Israel unequalled service, including end-to-end supply chain management,” said Joe Taets, president of ADM’s Agricultural Services business unit. “We’re looking forward to expanding to offer both new and existing customers in Israel"...