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Emirates 24|7
The Emirates
Banks Association, in cooperation with banks operating in the UAE, have
formed a committee made up of 10 local and foreign banks, to reach a
final version of models for personal loans and financial services.
Abdullah Ghubash, Chairman of the Technical Committee of the association,
was quoted in Al Ittihad as saying, “The Central Bank has requested that
this task be completed within a month. The banks and the association will
deliver the required forms during the given period.” He added, “After the
committee’s adoption of the unified models it will be referred to the
Board of Directors and following its adoption it will be sent to the
Central Bank, which can make its own amendments. Then it will be binding
on all banks operating in the country.” Fatahi Sakik, General Manager of
the Banking Association, said, “There are some inquiries from banks about
the terms of the mechanism and the new system announced by the Central
Bank related to personal loans, that need to be clarified.” He added:
“The newly-formed committee is currently receiving feedback from all the
banks.”
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Emirates 24|7
A majority of
people in the UAE have no idea whatsoever about what bank fees they pay
and why. A new poll, conducted by Ipsos and Arabic daily Emarat Al Youm,
has revealed that 75 of respondents are in the dark about their bank
fees. The poll was conducted on a random sample of 2,300 persons across
UAE - 529 UAE citizens, 843 from other Arab countries and 928 were other
foreign expatriates. According to the survey, 69.3 per cent of the Arabs,
and 80 per cent of the foreigners do not know any preliminary information
or details about bank fees, whether monthly or annually. The survey
indicated that people aged between 15 and 24 years are the most ignorant
of fees. The poll also showed that only 6.2 per cent of UAE residents
have ever lodged a complaint against banks to any authority. The poll in
fact revealed an aversion to complaining, where 90.6 per cent of UAE
citizens and 94.9 per cent of Arab respondents have never made any kind
of complaints about high fees.
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Khaleej Times
ABU DHABI —
Abu Dhabi’s investment arm, Mubadala Development Company, said its
revenues and assets showed double-digit growth in the financial year
ending December 31, 2010. The investment company’s assets grew 14
per cent year-on-year to Dh101.5 billion, while revenues went even higher
by 22 per cent to Dh16 billion, “as a result of a number of assets
reaching operational milestones,” the investment company said. “Net
profit for the year was Dh1.1 billion and total comprehensive loss during
the period was Dh315 million, resulting from mark-to-market on
investments,” the investment firm said in a statement posted on its
website. Jitendra Gianchandani, Chairman of Jitendra Chartered
Accountants in Dubai, said: “The main reason behind the decline in profit
is that there was an extraordinary income of Dh4.191 billion in 2009 from
other investments that fell to Dh1.04 billion in 2010.” He
said that the operating cost is high compared to the revenue increased in
the year. On comprehensive loss of Dh315 million in the year,
Jitendra said “it is due to write down of decrease in fair value of
available for sale investments amounting to Dh1.4 billion.” “Overall loss
is due to more provisions in the fair value of the assets which reduced
by Dh819 million, majority of which were incurred from Aldar Properties
and AMD shares.
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Gulf News
Dubai: In its continued effort to
facilitate Emirati entrepreneurs to set up their own businesses, Emirates
NBD announced that it had further enhanced the offering on its Seed
Capital Loan initiative. UAE nationals intending to start their own
enterprise can obtain up to Dh2.5 million via the Seed Capital Loan
initiative to fund their initial capital requirement. For a limited
period of time, Emirates NBD is also offering special pricing and an
attractive repayment tenor of 12 years. "Surveys have shown that
Emiratis have led the growth in business start-up activity in the UAE in
recent years, with much of the endeavour coming from young adults,"
said Saif Al Mansouri, the bank's Deputy Head of Group Marketing and
Branding. "Challenges of accessing finance, however, have also
compelled a relatively high number of start-up businesses to discontinue
operations in the early stages. Emirates NBD's enhanced offering on the
Seed Capital Loan is expected to support the recent increase in new
business activity. In 2009, the UAE had a business start-up activity rate
of 6.5 per cent, which was an increase of 38 per cent from pre-global
recession results of 2006-2007, according to the Global Entrepreneurship
Monitor (GEM) report titled "Entrepreneurship in the United Arab
Emirates."
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Khaleej Times
Abu
Dhabi Commercial Bank, or ADCB, has hired Goldman Sachs to sell its 25
per cent stake in Malaysian bank RHB Capital valued at $1.4 billion, two
sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Saturday.
ADCB
had shortlisted three to four banks and it was still deciding whether to
appoint a second adviser for the sale, sources added. The proposed
sale is expected to draw interest from Chinese banks and other Asian
buyers due to Malaysia’s rapidly growing economy, though lack of control
could deter strategic buyers from bidding aggressively, sources said.
An ADCB spokesman did not offer an immediate comment while a Hong
Kong-based spokesman for Goldman Sachs was not available for an immediate
comment. Sources declined to be identified as the information has not
been formally made public yet. A 30 per cent foreign ownership
limit in Malaysian banks has proved to be a stumbling block for foreign
banks planning to expand in Malaysia through acquisitions.
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Gulf News
Dubai: Dubai World's $25 billion
(Dh91.95 billion) debt restructuring deal has boosted the emirate's
position as a safe haven in a politically turbulent region. Dubai related
bonds have been rallying at an average of two points in the last two
days. In the last five days, Dubai credit default swaps have fallen by
more than 35 basis points. Even the equity markets have been positive.
There is a flight to stability happening in the region. With regions
around the UAE facing unrest, and Dubai having attractive yields, this
news is an additional boost for the region, said Chandru Bhatia, junior
portfolio manager of Rasmala Investments, Dubai. He added the deal would
allow the company to refocus on its core competency. "If the company
would not have received 100 per cent creditors' approval, then it would
have had to liquidate some of its positions to pay creditors which would
have been bad for the company, equity price, and bad for Dubai's name in
general." "This will be seen very positively for Dubai's
economy as it enhances faith in Dubai's capability to handle the
crisis," Bhatia said. "This increases confidence in Dubai. We
can expect investments that had left the region after the November 25,
2009, restructuring announcement to slowly start flowing back into the
region. Investors sitting on cash will also start reinvesting in the
region." An analyst at Shuaa said, "It was very widely expected
so it was not a big surprised to everyone. It was always going to be
signed, and we were aware of it in the days running up to it. It does
draw a line under the agreement and is good for confidence.
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Gulf News
Dubai: The size of UAE investments in
the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) reached $5.7
billion (Dh20.92 billion) last year, Heba Salama, Director of Comesa
Regional Investment Agency, told Gulf News yesterday. "Compared to
previous years, the UAE investments in the Comesa markets have increased
from $4.8 billion in 2009 to $5.7 billion in 2010," she said on the
sidelines of the fourth Comesa Forum in Dubai. However, she added that
the forum will provide an opportunity for dialogue between the
policymakers of Comesa members and the representatives of the investment
and business community on leveraging trade and investment. Stressing the
business opportunities in the Comesa markets, Salama said that the annual
trade within the Comesa represent 29 per cent of its total trade while it
is not more than 10 per cent with the European Union countries. "The
Comesa region is also endowed with a wide variety of mineral resources,
including sizeable deposits of copper, gold, platinum, nickel, cobalt,
coal and iron." "It offers investment opportunities in mining,
manufacturing and processing in a wide variety of goods and other
industrial products. There are also opportunities for oil exploration and
refining in a number of member states.
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Gulf News
Jeddah: A Gulf monetary union is
still in its early stages and the launch of a common currency will take
time, Saudi Arabia's central bank governor said in remarks published
yesterday. "The Gulf monetary union project is huge and we are still
in the foundation stage," Mohammad Al Jasser told Al Hayat
newspaper. "There are no important economic actions or projects held
up on this common currency... that is why we will take the right time for
it, but this does not mean that we will be sluggish in working on
it," he added. Jasser did not give a date for when he expects the
currency to be launched. Central bankers from oil producing Gulf states
met in Doha last week and discussed some of the necessary steps needed to
achieve a common currency. The United Arab Emirates and Oman withdrew
from the plans for the common currency but Jasser said he hopes that they
re-join when the time is right for them. "This is their choice ...
each country has its own..." he said.
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Khaleej Times
DUBAI - GCC corporate earnings surged by 25 per cent
year-on-year to $43.1 billion in 2010, driven by the commodities,
telecoms and banking sectors, Kuwait Financial Centre, or Markaz, said on
Thursday. With the exception the UAE and Qatar, where
corporate earnings have been negatively impacted by the dismal
performance of the property sector, the other four GCC countries posted
stronger corporate gains in 2010 compared to the previous year, M. R.
Raghu, Senior Vice-President of Research at the Kuwait Financial Centre,
told
Khaleej
Times. The
overall growth in GCC corporate earnings in 2010 is better than a
previously estimated 22 per cent. In January 2011, Markaz predicted that
the GCC corporate earnings would grow 22 per cent in 2011, mainly due to
more stable growth in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and a return to positive
growth in Oman and the UAE. During 2010, the UAE posted a 47 per cent
decline in corporate earnings to $4.8 billion, marred by poor
performances in real estate sector. The dramatic decline in UAE corporate
earnings, much bleaker than the forecast made by Markaz in the beginning
of this year, was triggered by Aldar Properties, Raghu said.
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