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A growing international underwriting presence in Dubai, Qatar and other GCC countries has begun to transform the Middle East insurance market, participants told GSN. Credit crunch jitters are starting to affect the region, but there remains huge potential in several financial sectors, including the Gulf insurance market.

Turbulent times push everyone to buck up their thinking – and in this respect, Gulf Co-operation Council governments are no different from their international counterparts. Soaring oil revenues may provide Arabian states with a wealth cushion against global volatility; but an economic storm

Dubai provides the widest range of requests for trade and project risk insurance within the GCC markets, while Saudi Arabia provides underwriters with the largest volumes of political risk insurance (PRI) exposure, according to London-based insurer Aspen Insurance UK,

Abu Dhabi’s oil and gas investment arm is talking tough as it seeks to exponentially increase its already substantial portfolio with acquisitions at home and abroad. International Petroleum Investment Company is showing itself to be a tough negotiator in its talks with Spain’s Banco Santander

Spanish sporting giant Real Madrid (RM)’s president Ramon Calderón has been in talks with Ajman Crown Prince Sheikh Ammar Bin Humaid Al-Nuaimi with the idea of training talented young Emirati footballers in Spain, as well as opening RM football schools in the UAE.

Following on plans to establish an investment fund with Indonesia (GSN 835/15), Qatar and Vietnam have announced a $1bn fund to invest in various sectors including agriculture. According to Vietnamese ambassador Phung The Long, Qatar Investment Authority will provide 90% of the fund’s equity. “We have exchanged

The Libyan Investment Authority (LIA)‘s participation in First Energy Bank (FEB), whose emergence is analysed above, is part of a rapidly multiplying network of links between Libya’s fast-changing economy and the established oil economies of the Gulf (GSN 832/12, 815/1). While Libya is still in the process of setting up institutions to take charge of its huge financial reserves

The takeover of one of the UK’s oldest football clubs by a previously unheard of Abu Dhabi vehicle has caused huge stirs in the UAE and in Britain – and still it remains unclear who owns the privately-held company. GSN highlights two members of the Abu Dhabi ruling family with close links to the sale.

Qatar's dominance as an LNG exporter is unlikely to be challenged in the foreseeable future, a leading gas sector project financier told GSN. There have been forecasts that the LNG

Dubai Group (DG), which is owned by UAE government investment vehicle Dubai Holding, has been on a spending spree this summer. It has purchased a 5.24% stake in one of Egypt’s largest banks, Commercial International Bank, for Dh580m ($157.9m). Egypt has attracted a number of investors from the Gulf looking to tap the potential of its largely underdeveloped financial sector. With the government not issuing new licenses, Gulf investors are left with no choice but to buy stakes in banks. DG chief executive Thomas Volpe said the group planned another four acquisitions before the year’s end.

Some clouds overshadowing the region’s project finance market have been lifted with the closure of a $3.3bn limited recourse loan package for Qatar’s $3.8bn Ras Laffan C IWPP, and Nakilat has also got its gas carrier financing away.

Royal Bank of Scotland was financial adviser for the Ras Laffan C financing, marking yet another successful transaction in the region for the UK bank group’s project finance team. In May, RBS was appointed as financial adviser for one of Qatar’s

Ratings agency Moody's Investors Service has published a report in which it responds to ten frequently asked questions about recent

Three sharia-compliant investment funds worth $10bn have been created to seek out opportunities

The Holiday Inn in Beirut, ravaged during the 1975-90 civil war when it was used by militias as a base for fighting, remains a ruin due to differences within Kuwait's ruling family, sources in the Lebanese capital told GSN.