AME Info, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, banking briefs

Source: AME Info, Abu Dhabi, United Arab EmiratesAug.迷你倉出租 29--VCBANK POSTS $21.1M IN NET INCOME: Bahrain-based Islamic investment bank, Venture Capital Bank (VCBank) has posted a net profit of $21.1m from total revenue of $43.9m for the 18 months ended June 30, compared with a loss of $58.7m and total revenue of $6.7m for the calendar year 2011, Gulf Daily News has reported. Net profit and total revenue for the quarter ended June 30 rose to $1m and $4.3m, respectively, from a net loss of $4.5m and total revenue of $2.8m for the same quarter ended June 30, 2011.BANK AUDI EGYPT POSTS EGP212M IN H1 NET PROFITS: Bank Audi (Egypt), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lebanon-based Bank Audi, has said its net profits for the six months to the end of June jumped to EGP212.25m, compared with EGP102.9m in the same period a year ago. Net interest income rose to EGP360.84 from EGP282.16 a year earlier, the lender said.LLOYD'S PROBING INSURERS OVER POSSIBLE INTERNATIONAL SANCTION BREACHES: Lloyd's is probing whether market insurers are breaching international sanctions by trading with countries such as Iran and North Korea, the Sunday Times has reported. The review is not targeting any individual firm but the market as a whole, the report said. Lloyd's launched the probe two months ago and a report is due out next year, it said.$21M CLAIM AGAINST UBS DISMISSED BY DUBAI COURT: A $21.4m by a member of Kuwait's ruling family against UBS AG has been dismissed by a Dubai court, Reuters has reported. According to the lawsuit by Sheikh Meshal, the Swiss bank failed to pay him for helping it become lead arranger on a $9bn asset sale by Kuwaiti telecoms operator Zain. Justice Sir David Steel described Sheikh Meshal in the written verdict as a witness, in whose evidence it was "difficult to have confidence ... his evidence in some respects did not just appear evasive but was demonstrably unreliable." "There was no motive for the bank to seek help in its engagement as financial advisor to Zain let alone at substantial financial cost," Justice Steel wrote.US COURT DISMISSES 90 PERCENT OF CLAIMS AGAINST ARAB BANK: Jordan-headquartered Arab Bank has announced that a New York federal court has dismissed over 90 percent of the claims in a long-running lawsuit accusing the lender of providing banking services to charities and individuals allegedly affiliated with Palestinian militants, The Daily Star has reported. Judge Brian Cogan of the Court of the Eastern District of New York ordered the dismissal of the claims filed by over 6,000 of the plaintiffs under the US' Alien Tort Statute, the bank said. A trial is scheduled to take place in January 2014, marking the first time a bank has been tried in the US for terrorism financing under the act.SAUDI CREDIT AND SAVINGS TO FINANCE OVER 415 SME PROJECTS: The Saudi Credit and Saving Bank (SCSB) has approved the financing of 415 small and new enterprises with SR87m, Arab News has reported. The financing aims to help young aspiring Saudi entrepreneurs to start their own business by lending them capital with a maximum amount of SR300,000, said the spokesperson for the state-owned bank, Ahmed Al-Jibreen.IDB TO BOOST SUKUK PROGRAMME BY 50 PERCENT: Saudi-based Islamic Development Bank (IDB) is planning to boost its sukuk programme by more than 50 percent by the end of this year, as demand for financing from member countries, including Turkey and Morocco, grows, Saudi Gazette has reported. IDB aims to raise its medium-term note programme to $10bn from $6.5bn, so that it is ready to tap the market at any time, said vice-president of finance at IDB, Abdul Aziz Al Hinai.LEBANESE BANKS IN SYRIA POST 591 PERCENT SURGE IN H1 NET INCOME: The seven Lebanese banks operating in Syria have reported a 591 percent rise in combined net profit to 13.1bn Syrian pounds, but experts dismissed the rise as merely due to valuation of foreign currencies to the pound, The Daily Star has reported. The surge in net income is chiefly due to sharp increases in unrealised net foreign exchange gains from 3.7bn Syrian pounds in the first half of 2012 to 31.4bn in same period in 2013, according to data by Byblos Bank. "There is no actual improvement and the only reason that there is such an increase in profits is the fluctuation of foreign exchange rates and the fact that these banks report their profits in Syrian pounds," said chief economist at Byblos Bank, Nassib Ghobril.AMERICAN EXPRESS, BBK RENEW PARTNERSHIP DEAL: American Express Middle East (AEME) and Bahrain's BBK have renewed and expanded their partnership, which covers American Express bill settlements through BBK's internet retail banking channel and its branch network, Gulf Daily News has reported. According the renewed agreement, mutual clients of the two organisations can now settle their American Express bills in both US dollars and Bahrain dinars online, using BBK's internet retail banking channel. Additionally, all American Express Card members can make card bill payments at any BBK branch or financial mall.GULF INTERNATIONAL TO LAUNCH REGIONAL RETAIL NETWORK: Bahrain-based Gulf International Bank (GIB) has selected Saudi Arabia as base to launch a regional retail banking network, as part of a迷你倉GCC-wide expansion plan, Gulf Daily News has reported. "It is part of our strategy to create a universal banking platform which will also include our wholesale banking operations," said GIB's chief financial officer, Stephen Williams. "We are planning to expand our operations and we have already been recruiting to do this," he said.EGYPT BANKS RESUME NORMAL OPERATIONS: Egypt's central bank has announced that commercial banks will return to normal working hours starting Monday - 8:30am to 2:00pm for clients and until 3:00pm for employees, Ahram has reported. This follows a decision by the country's interim cabinet that the curfew imposed on 14 Egyptian governorates will be enforced from 9pm (instead of 7pm) until 6am with the exception of Friday (7pm - 6am).SABB TO SELL ISLAMIC BOND TO BOOST CAPITAL: Saudi British Bank (SABB), an affiliate of HSBC Holdings and the kingdom's third-largest listed lender by market value, is aiming to sell a Tier 2 capital-boosting Islamic bond before the end of the year, Reuters has reported, citing two banking sources aware of the matter. HSBC is advising SABB on the potential riyal-denominated transaction, the sources said.ALJAZIRA EXPANDS IN RIYADH: Saudi lender, Bank AlJazira has announced the opening of its new Sahafa Branch in Riyadh, as part of the bank's expansion plans to meet the growing demand on its Shari'ah-compliant financial services, Saudi Gazette has reported. The bank, which has 60 branches and 21 dedicated female sections, said that more branches are planned to go online this year.EGYPTIAN EXPATS REMITTANCES HIT EGP19BN: Egyptian manpower and emigration minister, Kamal Abu Eita has said monetary transfers made by Egyptians living abroad totalled EGP19bn, Daily News Egypt has reported. Total savings of Egyptian expats approached EGP1.2trn, of which only 45 percent was being used, spent and invested, he said.ENBD TO RAISE $12BN FOR CLIENTS: Emirates NBD expects to raise over $12bn for clients in the remainder of the year, boosting investment banking income as the lender seeks expansion, Bloomberg has reported. The UAE's largest bank by assets has mandates for about 20 bond and loan deals after helping raise $14.6bn for clients in 23 such transactions so far this year, said the lender's head of wholesale banking, Giel-Jan Van Der Tol. The new transactions will raise revenue at the lender's wholesale banking unit by more than 10 percent over the next 12 month and loan growth by 6 percent, he said.OMAN'S ODB MULLING ISLAMIC WINDOW: Oman Development Bank (ODB) has said it is considering the launch of an Islamic window to offer Shari'ah-compliant products to small and medium-sized firms, Reuters has reported. Government-owned ODB considered a full-fledged conversion to become an Islamic bank, but is likely instead to opt for an Islamic window, said Hamed bin Salim Al Harthy, assistant general manager for branches at ODB. "The bank will not move toward becoming a full Islamic bank but we have to keep up with the trend in the market, and the trend is for Islamic products," he told the news service.BMI BANK SETTLES $80M LOAN AHEAD OF SCHEDULE: Bahrain-headquartered BMI Bank has said it has repaid its three-year syndicated term loan of $80m six months ahead of its scheduled due date, Gulf Daily News has reported. The three-year oversubscribed facility was signed in February 2011 and arranged by Bank Muscat (Oman) with Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait, Standard Chartered Bank and Arab Banking Corp as participants.SARASIN ALPEN TO WITHDRAW FROM OMAN BY MONTH-END: Swiss private bank Sarasin-Alpen is planning to shut down its operations in Oman by the end of this month, Times of Oman has reported, citing informed sources. The reason behind the decision is not clear yet, but it could be due to a global restructuring plan, after the bank was taken over by Safra Group, another Swiss private banking group, the sources said. In addition to Oman, Sarasin Alpen has operations in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Bahrain.JORDAN MULLING LAUNCHING BANK TO HELP SMES: Jordan is studying a plan to establish a state-owned bank to offer low cost credit facilities to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), Jordan Times has reported. The proposed bank would not accept deposits in order not to compete with commercial banks in the kingdom and would offer easy lending conditions, as well as long term loans that should carry affordable interest rates.BANK DEPOSITS IN SAUDI ARABIA HIT NEW RECORD IN Q1: The National Commercial Bank (NCB) has said the total deposits with Saudi lenders reached a new record of SR1.36trn by the end of first quarter of 2013, Arab News has reported. NCB's customer deposits, the largest in the market, grew 11.6 percent year-on-year to SR276.7bn in March 2013, followed by Al-Rajhi Bank, which almost doubled that growth rate of NCB at 20.9 percent to SR231.7bn. Banks have extended SR153bn in additional financing during last year. Over the first quarter of 2013, Saudi banks have expanded by a further SR40.2bn, said the report.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 AME Info (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates) Visit AME Info (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates) at .ameinfo.com Distributed by MCT Information Services儲存倉