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Source: AME Info, Abu Dhabi, United Arab EmiratesSept.儲存倉 05--FGB TO FOCUS ON INVESTMENT BUSINESS: Abu Dhabi-based First Gulf Bank (FGB), which this week recruited former Standard Chartered banker Steve Perry, is planning further high-level hires as it focuses on winning more investment-banking business, Bloomberg has reported. "We are moving into being something that looks and feels a little bit more like an investment bank," said head of FGB's wholesale banking, Simon Penney. "We're focusing a lot more on originating from our client base, which we haven't done as much as we should have in the past."OMAN'S AL MADINA INSURANCE TO FLOAT IPO BY NOVEMBER: Oman-based Al Madina Insurance Co has announced plans to float an initial public offering (IPO) in November, as the firm seeks to change its status to an Islamic takaful company, Times of Oman has reported. "The size of the issue is around OR6.5-7m and it is going to be a premium issue," Abdul Rahman Awadh Barham, CEO of Al Madina Real Estate and a board member of Shaza Muscat Co, told the daily. The promoters of the Omani insurer will divest 40 percent of their holding in the company in favour of investing public through the IPO, he said.LEBANESE LENDERS OVERCAME REGIONAL TURMOIL: CENTRAL BANK: Governor of the Lebanese central bank has said banks in the country have successfully overcome the negative effects of the Syrian conflict and managed to boost reserves and provisions, The Daily Star has reported. "The Lebanese banks have overcome the effects of the crisis in Syria, Egypt and Cyprus and are currently operating in the same pattern before these problems started," Riad Salameh told participants in a banking conference in Beirut. "These banks have amassed the required reserves and provisions so they can remain immune from the conflicts that surround them," he said.BARCLAYS TO OFFLOAD UAE RETAIL BANKING OPERATIONS: British lender Barclays has said has decided to sell its retail banking operations in the UAE after conducting a review of the business, Reuters has reported. The bank, however, will keep its Dubai branches to service corporate banking clients. "Following a strategic review, Barclays has decided to re-focus its efforts in the UAE on its key strengths in corporate and investment banking and wealth and investment management," the bank said, declining to provide any additional details.HSBC TO STOP WEALTH MANAGEMENT SERVICES IN LEBANON, JORDAN, BAHRAIN: HSBC Holdings has announced its wealth management products will no longer be available in Bahrain, Jordan and Lebanon, as the British lender continues to exit small or insufficiently profitable operations globally as part of a strategic review, Reuters has reported. "After a detailed review of our Mena business, we will discontinue sales of any new wealth investment or wealth insurance products in Lebanon, Jordan and Bahrain from October 7, 2013," the bank said. Existing customers will continue to receive basic services and their wealth management-related investments will be maintained until maturity, the lender said, adding the decision has not prompted job losses.SAUDI LENDERS START IMPLEMENTING SAMA'S NEW RULES: Banks operating in Saudi Arabia have started implementing 12 legal clauses imposed by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA), following a grace period of three months, Arab News has reported. These involve protecting clients from illegal practices during banking transactions and services. "Saudi banks have updated services and programs provided to customers to keep apace of the new rules imposed by SAMA," a banker told the daily.SAUDI CREDIT BANK TO WRITE OFF SR2.5BN IN LOAN DEFAULTS: The Saudi Credit and Savings Bank has said it has been instructed by King Abdullah to exempt 141,000 defaulters from payment of 24 instalments of their combined debt of SR2.5bn, Saudi Gazette has reported. The defaulters were on the waiting list of the social loans programme since 2011, when a royal order was issued exempting them from repaying the loans, the state-owned lender said.SYRIA MOVES TO CURB FOREIGN CURRENCY FLIGHT: The Syrian central bank has said foreign currency traffickers could face up to 15 years in jail without trial, as the pound seemed to recover slightly on the black market, but was still much weaker than before Western powers weighed military options, The Daily Star has reported. "Penalties will include temporary detention of up to 15 years for those who move foreign currencies outside the country, whether through authorised money transfer companies or through border crossings," said central bank governor, Adib Mayaleh. "[Penalties will also include] a fine equivalent to three times the amount of the transfer and not below 15m Syrian pounds," Mayaleh added.WARBA BANK TO LIST ON KSE TOMORROW: Kuwaiti Islamic lender Warba Bank is set to be listed on Gulf the country's stock exchange on September 3, after a restriction on public trading of the stock ended, Reuters has reported, citing an industry source familiar with the matter. A majority of the shares in the lender, set up with a capital of KD100m ($351m), were gifted to Kuwaiti nationals as part of the state's wealth sharing, with each citizen receiving 684 shares. The remaining 24 percent of Warba Bank is owned by the sovereign wealth fund Kuwait Investment Authority. The listing does not include sale of any new shares in the bank.LEBANESE BANK DEPOSITS UP 5 percent IN H1 2013: The Association of Banks in Lebanon has announced that total deposits at Lebanese banks r迷你倉價錢se 5 percent in the first half of the year, The Daily Star has reported. Lending to resident and non-residents grew 3.2 percent despite deteriorating economic conditions in country and the region, said head of the association, Francois Bassil. Lending to the public sector increased 5.3 percent in the first half of the year, totalling $32.8bn. Assets grew by more than 4 percent to almost $158bn, Bassil added.KUWAITI LENDERS SEEN TO POST 7 percent IN CREDIT GROWTH THIS YEAR: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) has said bank credit in the country is expected to register a growth of 7 percent or more in 2013, the strongest since 2009, Kuna has reported. "Total bank credit rose by KD189m in June to KD28bn, with year-on-year (y/y) credit growth slipping slightly from last month to 6.2 percent," said the NBK report. "Total credit was up KD1.17bn so far this year, compared with an increase of only KD749m during the first half in 2012. Annualised growth in the first six months of this year reached 8.9 percent, up from 5.9 percent a year ago," the lender said.FAISAL ISLAMIC BANK OF EGYPT POSTS 68 percent JUMP IN H1 PROFITS: Faisal Islamic Bank of Egypt has announced its net profit for the quarter ending June 30, 2013, jumped around 68 percent to EGP413.2m. The Shari'ah-compliant lender reported net profits of EGP281m for the corresponding period a year earlier.ITHMAAR BANK SAYS CHIEF EXECUTIVE TO RETIRE: Bahrain's Ithmaar Bank has announced its chief executive Mohammed Bucheerei is to retire at the end of August and be replaced by Ahmed Abdul Rahim, currently general manager, as acting head, Reuters has reported. Bucheerei led the bank's transition from an Islamic investment bank to a retail Islamic lender offering a range of Shari'ah-compliant products, the bank said.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.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迷你倉