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Alubaf Arab International Bank is facing a multi-million dollar pay-out, after losing a case at the High Court in London involving an aircraft financing deal with Bahamas-incorporated Novus Aviation Ltd.The case dates back to March 2013, when Bahrain-based Alubaf contacted Novus saying it was interested in aircraft acquisition and financing deals. After discussing a couple of possible transactions, Alubaf – which is majority owned by Libyan Foreign Bank (LBF) – agreed to join a deal for an Airbus A330-300 to be delivered to Malaysian Airlines in July 2013.

Federal Vice President, prime minister and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum announced on Twitter on 20 May that the UAE cabinet had voted to lift foreign ownership restrictions on businesses. It is also to introduce a ten-year visa for some groups, including investors, scientists, doctors, engineers and entrepreneurs. The decisions are due to be enforced by Q3 2018. The changes are expected to stimulate investment. Dubai-based Emirates NBD says that some of the Dh164bn ($44.7bn) that expats remit home is now likely to be invested locally.

Islamic bank Masraf Al Rayan (MAR) was incorporated as a Qatari shareholding company on 4 January 2006, and licensed by Qatar Central Bank (QCB). It grew rapidly after its launch that October to become the largest Islamic lender and fourth largest bank by market value. It continued to grow in 2011, when it picked up business as a result of the central bank’s decree closing the Islamic windows of commercial banks. Headquartered in Doha, it launched with a paid-up capital of QR7.5bn ($2.1bn).

Iraq remains at far from ‘normalisation’, or being regarded as a bankable risk, but the country’s political progress and a gradual improvement in security are helping to alter the perceptions of the trade finance and insurance communities

The Islamic Development Bank group’s International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation has signed a Dh73m ($19.8m) trade finance agreement

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on 18 August announced that New York-based BNY Mellon has agreed to pay $14.8m to settle charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by providing student internships to family members of two officials at a Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund. Without admitting or denying the findings, the company has agreed to pay $8.3m in disgorgement, $1.5m in prejudgment interest and a $5m penalty

The National Assembly voted on 13 May to defer plans to introduce a value-added tax until 2021, three years after the implementation date originally agreed by all six Gulf Co-operation Council members. To date only Saudi Arabia and the UAE have brought in the 5% levy on goods and services. However, the National Assembly is still expected to push ahead with the introduction of excise duty to be paid by Kuwaitis on tobacco products and sugary drinks later this year.

Following the May 2013 news that Saudi cleric Sheikh Saad Bin Nasser Al-Shathri was suing The Guardian newspaper in the High Court for unlimited damages for suggestions in a July 2011 article that he was an “extremist” sympathetic to Al-Qaeda, the paper on 18 October issued an apology and clarification on what it had written. It noted that both sides had agreed to amicably settle their differences. The dispute arose because of the way Sheikh Saad was portrayed in the article, which suggested that he was opposed to King Abdullah’s reforms, that he was a hardliner, and that he was not in agreement with the king on the mixing of genders at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (GSN 866/8).

The central bank’s prudent regulation has helped to keep the domestic banking sector in a relatively solid shape, but a prolonged downturn in the region, particularly in real estate markets, could lead to an uncomfortable situation.

In late December, Al-Khobar-based Soroof International said it would file a complaint in the Saudi criminal court against Electricité de France International (EDF) for remedies against the offences and harms caused to Soroof and its owner, Prince Bandar Bin Abdullah Bin Mohammed Bin Saud Al-Kabir. Soroof has already started arbitration against EDF at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). The ICC case relates to what Soroof says is the “faulty execution” by EDF of the shareholders agreement signed by Soroof and the French company for the creation of a joint venture in the kingdom. EDF and Soroof established a joint venture, EDF Saudi Arabia, in March 2011.

Kingdom Holding Company posted a $8.26bn net loss in Q4 08, compared with a gain of $68.2m in Q4 07.

Qatar Holding (QH) sold around a third of its shareholding in the London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) on 10 July, though it still remains one of the exchange’s largest shareholders. “This transaction forms part of the routine portfolio management activities undertaken by QH from time to time.

Tehran welcomed a decision by a Luxembourg court on 27 March to reject a 2012 US court ruling that would have allowed victims of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks to claim $1.6bn of Iranian assets held in the Luxembourg-based Clearstream clearing house. The funds, which belong to Bank Markazi-ye Jomhuri-ye Eslami-ye Iran (Central Bank of Iran), were frozen during an earlier period of international sanctions on Tehran and have yet to be returned.

The government is to spend SR120bn ($32bn) on subsidised home loans for local borrowers as part of a plan to boost home ownership from 50% today to 60% by 2020 and 70% by 2030. Housing minister Majed Alhogail launched the programme on 5 February, drawing together a consortium of 16 government agencies. The plans include a SR18bn loan guarantee system to boost access to funding and SR12.5bn to support deposits on home purchases between now and 2030.

An increasingly assertive Abu Dhabi is looking to draw in international partners and assets, to consolidate its traditional position as the UAE’s federal capital and engineering hub, and to emerge as the Gulf city that uses its wealth to plan development with respect for social traditions and environmental constraints while emerging as a significant new international player. GSN examines the oil-rich emirate’s growth strategy and attitudes towards spending money – at home and on less wealthy emirates.