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While Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula continues to ensure Yemen’s place at the top of the international agenda, the underlying economic crisis and subsequent weakness of the state are at the core of its domestic problems

Yemeni deputy finance minister Jalal Yaqoub took the spotlight during his visit to London for the Royal Institute of International Affairs’ Yemen Forum on 1 November. Giving interviews to major news outlets, including The Financial Times, Reuters and CNN,

Recent financings worth a total $1.3bn for two Omani power projects and a $2.2bn package for Emirates Steel have maintained momentum in the GCC project finance market, according to participants canvassed by GSN

The fallout from the dispute between two major Saudi business families continues to concern creditors, regional banks and international monetary authorities. Conventional wisdom has it that issues surrounding the Al-Gosaibi/Maan Al-Sanea defaults will be resolved by the authorities. But the Saudi system’s slow public response to the situation was undermining confidence even before international courts got involved

The influence and financial muscle of Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) states was more apparent than ever at the 6-9 October International Monetary Fund/World Bank annual meetings in Washington.

The House Financial Services Committee hearing A Review of Current and Evolving Trends in Terrorism Financing took place on 28 September. Among the four witnesses was Eric Lewis, a partner in Washington-based law firm Baach Robinson Lewis, who is representing Ahmed Hamad Al-Gosaibi and Brothers (AHAB). The hearing looked at the dispute between AHAB and Maan Al-Sanea, and the movement of $1trn of funds between Middle East financial institutions and US banks since 11 September 2001.

Allegations about Maan Al-Sanea were first made in the New York Supreme Court in a counter-claim after Ahmed Hamad Al-Gosaibi and Brothers (AHAB) was sued by the UAE-based Mashreq Bank, owned by the Al-Ghurair family, which claimed it was owed

The Serious Fraud Office is to crack down on companies that offer inducements or ‘kickbacks’ to foreign governments in return for preferential treatment. The move is a result of a new Bribery Act drawn up by the former Labour government after the SFO abandoned an enquiry into BAE Systems’ £43bn Al-Yamamah arms deals with Saudi Arabia.

Merrill Lynch Saudi Arabia has appointed Motashar Almurshed as chief executive.

Moody’s Investors Service on 1 October assigned a provisional rating of A1 to the Saudi riyal-denominated senior unsecured bonds that Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation plans to issue soon, in Apicorp’s first foray into the capital markets.

The Friends of Yemen held a key meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York in September. The group, which was founded in January, called for the creation of a development fund and better co-ordination of foreign aid, adding that a key aim will be supporting the recent International Monetary Fund programme to restructure Yemen’s economy.

The collapse of companies owned by the Al-Gosaibi family and Maan Al-Sanea continues to cause concern across the region and beyond. Arab bankers believe that more big Gulf family groups could come under pressure from the fallout of the global financial crisis and their exposure to the Saudi businesses collapse.

A number of new reports on Saudi banks point to a system that is stable and growing, reflecting the sector’s resilience and strong financial fundamentals in the face of challenging operating conditions, as Moody’s Investors Service put it. Some players who talked to GSN were less upbeat, pointing to slow-moving business and a continued hangover from the crisis that built up over the Saad and Al-Gosaibi groups’ failure – a crisis that quietly continues to affect business across the region.

A move by UAE state telecommunications company Etisalat to buy a substantial stake in Kuwaiti telecoms player Zain comes as Abu Dhabi extends its ambitions to buy assets in the region following the global downturn.

Aligning itself with international pressure over the nuclear issue, Tokyo has announced new sanctions against Iran, which include a ban upon any medium- to long-term (MLT) export credit cover from either Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (Nexi) and The Japan Bank for International Co-operation (JBIC).