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As international financial sanctions tighten, Iran has slipped off the radar of most banks, but import letters of credit are still being issued by Iranian banks and may be confirmed by a handful of western counterparts
In a move to increase pressure on Tehran, the British government has followed US moves by banning all UK-based companies from entering into or continuing any transactions or business relationships with Bank Mellat,
After a turbulent year for several GCC economies, private sector underwriters and trade finance banks say they will remain wary of Saudi trade paper until a clearer understanding emerges of how much the Saad Group crisis is going to cost banks in the region.
The use of letters of credit (l/cs) by Middle East importers and exporters is increasing due to the harsher risk environment, according to a Dubai-based trade financier. "Traders have faced delays in receiving payments and, in some cases, even lost money in this region in 2008,
Moral hazard is now perceived as a growing factor in dealings with the GCC after a troubled Saudi group recently excluded all but Saudi creditors from an agreement to repay syndicated and bilateral loans
The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) has released a report on Saudi Arabia’s efforts to tackle terrorism financing, saying that while there has been progress, some challenges remain – particularly in preventing alleged funding for terrorism and extremism outside the Kingdom.
Banks risky but Qatar does well, says study, Batelco fined by regulator for sector monopoly, Al-Bazie appointed deputy finance minister, €1bn sukuk delayed, Warba Bank approval, BD50m investment in IWPP
First Persia Equity Fund, a Cayman Islands-based subsidiary of the state-controlled Bank Melli Iran, has been blacklisted by the US Treasury Department’s office of foreign assets control. As part of further US sanctions
Attempts to reassure world markets that the emirate’s debt is no more than $80bn have been overshadowed by the revelation that Dubai World alone owes $59.3bn. Last November, Emaar Properties chairman Mohammed Ali Alabbar – for long a key ally of UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum (MBR) – attempted to reassure financial markets that Dubai’s debt was no more than $80bn. It now appears the figure is higher.
For all their power and wealth, few among the Saudi merchant class attained the level of fame of Khalid Bin Mahfouz
The clarity of GCC legal systems and their treatment of foreign creditors have fallen under the spotlight as two debt-laden Saudi conglomerates troubles’ percolate through into the wider trade finance and insurance communities
Lawsuits and rating downgrades have set three significant Gulf business families – Saudi Arabia’s Al-Gosaibis, Al-Saneas and the UAE’s Al-Ghurairs – against each other (GSN 855/13). Recently, the Dubai-based, Al-Ghurair-owned Mashreq Bank filed lawsuits in New York against AHAB and its subsidiary TIBC involving a failed $75m currency exchange.
The credit shadows that have fallen over the Middle East in 2009 are afflicting some of the official export credit agencies (ECAs) based in the region and further afield. Saudi Arabia and Bahrain have moved to the centre of ECA scanners in the past couple of months, but it is the UAE that most preoccupies official insurers, GSN was told in a survey of regional and international market sentiment.
Ras Al-Khaimah on 22 July completed the formal documentation for a five-year, $400m (Dh1.5bn) Ijara sukuk issue,
Among private insurers, a select group of underwriters, mainly in the Lloyd's of London market, have been covering confiscation and political violence risks in oil drilling and other infrastructure areas,