The bank, which has incurred financial losses did not specify how long the position of the interim chief position will be there, or when they expect to hire a permanent replacement. The bank also mentioned that they will update once the time is right.

The bank reported $169.3 million in total losses for the first nine months of 2021, representing 30 percent of its capital. The Shahraj-based lender had blamed its exposure to NMC and the negative impact of the Covid-19 pandemic for the losses.

In other news, Qatar National Bank has appointed Ali Ahmed Al-Kuwari as its new chairman. The bank announced this news in a statement to the Qatar Stock Exchange. During the third quarter of 2021, the bank reported a profit of $961 million.

In 2021, the bank’s entire profit rose to $3.6 billion, which is up from $12 billion last year. The bank’s profit for the quarter ended on December 31, according to Reuters calculation. The results were slightly lower than what analysts estimated, which was around $12.7 billion.

Another rating agency Fitch, in October, indicated that it could cut the ratings of all banks in Qatar, saying it was concerned over the sector’s increasing reliance on external funding and recent rapid growth in assets. Additionally, foreign funding was $193 billion at the end of August, representing, 48 percent of the Qataru bank sector liabilities compared to $121 billion and 38 percent at the end of 2018.

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The launch is in line with the Vision 2030 initiative to increase financing to the SME sector. It gives suppliers access to funds which are based on the credit standing of their buyers. This means sellers can access funds without using their own credit lines.

Majed Najm, Deputy Managing Director of Corporate and Institutional Banking at SABB told the media, “This comes within the bank’s continuous endeavors to contribute to achieving the kingdom’s vision and play our role as a major financial institution to stimulate economic and commercial growth.”

“In addition to our approach to innovating quality banking products in the market, SABB is well-positioned to leverage its local expertise and broad international presence through HSBC’s network to lead the market in order to support businesses in the Kingdom in line with Vision 2030.”

Earlier this month, SABB also announced the launch of its Instant Cross-Border Transfer Service for the US Corridor via the blockchain payment tech powered by Ripple.

“SABB has always been on the forefront in adopting cutting edge technology solutions, providing the best banking services and tailoring solutions that save time and efforts for our customers,” Najm added.

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Mr Mohammed Wassim, CEO of the bank told the media, “We are embarking on a very ambitious journey that will get the UAE community even closer through our AI-powered technology and fully integrated digital platform, which is at the heart of our dynamic and tech-savvy organisational culture. The unique feature we bring to the table is the concept of co-creation whereby we will assess customer anticipation through our AI, and we will work towards making it a reality.”

He also added that when an account is opened with Al Maryah Community Bank, the customer will have an option to contribute to the development of the app, products, and services by providing suggestions and feedback on the UI platform.

Al Maryah Community Bank launched its digital banking app just yesterday and it is designed to help customers open their current or savings accounts. The bank’s customers can now also download the app (Mbank UAE) from the App Store and Google Play and enjoy a free for life gold account with no minimum balance.

Founded in 2021, Al Maryah Community Bank is UAE’s first fully integrated digital bank that aims to offer a unique and fully digitalized customer experience to its customers and small businesses alike through its innovative products and services. The bank also plans on becoming a trendsetter in stimulating and driving community banking activity in the UAE by providing swift digital access, high performance, and compliance, anytime, anywhere.

Image credits- Arabian Business

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The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates report revealed that the combined gross credit of the banks increased by 4.9 percent year-on-year and 0.8 percent quarter-on-quarter, reaching Dh1.805 trillion at the end of September.

In its report, the central bank said, “We believe UAE banks’ reduced profitability will last longer due to the high proportion of non-interest-bearing deposits in their funding structures and lower revenue on the asset side. Margins have tightened by 30-40bps due to lower interest rates. Lower margins and higher.”

During the same period, deposits from residents also increased by 6.4 percent to reach Dh1.716 trillion, while non-resident deposits increased by 0.8 percent year-on-year.

The report further revealed that the banks have injected around Dh19 billion into the UAE economy as loans during the first nine months of this year. UAE banks’ domestic credit increased by 2.9 percent year-on-year to reach Dh1.611 trillion by the end of September.

It was reported earlier this year that banks in the UAE are providing around 98 percent of their services digitally, in order to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. A study carried out by the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority (FCSA) highlighted an increase in the number of users of digital banking services to 90 percent.

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A study carried out by the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority (FCSA) highlighted an increase in the number of users of digital banking services to 90 percent.

Under the direct instructions of Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, banks in Abu Dhabi have started launched a set of initiatives to help individuals and businesses cope with the slowdown caused by the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.

Reportedly, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank Group and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank in coordination with the Abu Dhabi Department of Finance and Department of Economic Development have put together 17 financial initiatives for individuals and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Some of these initiatives are payment deferral of three months for retail loans of affected customers with zero charges and interest waived for the deferral period, payment deferral of one month for customers with home loans and mortgage loan, reduction in banking charges by 50 percent on early settlement of loans, reduction of late payment charges by 50 percent and full refund of processing fees for foreign currency credits on cards for due to the cancellation of travel plans.

Recently, the Central Bank of the UAE also encouraged the citizens of the country to take advantage of digital and online banking services as a measure to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus and protect the health and safety of UAE residents.

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Under the terms of the agreement, Qarar will combine its risk algorithms with Aion’s intelligent banking platform. The integration aims to transform banks’ customer risk assessment. 

Currently, banks in the UAE, Bahrain and Kuwait use Aion’s banking platform to offer digital financing solutions to customers. The platform with AI capabilities will help banks to make better decisions. Also, Qarar’s deep analytics engine will allow banks to make risk-managed business decisions by processing large volumes of data from various sources, media reports said. 

Qarar CEO Zaid Kamhawi, told the media, “Digital platforms are the next natural step in the future of financial institutions and will allow banks to onboard, assess and process lending applications in real-time using state of the art cloud-based technology. Our partnership with Aion comes to support the digital transformation initiatives sweeping the market and to meet customer demand for fast, consistent and accurate digital lending decisions.”

Ashar Nazim, who is the CEO of Aion Digital said that the partnership is a huge opportunity for banks and challenges at this point. In his view, the GCC’s data economy is extensively growing with a value of more than $5billion. With that, Qarar and Aion aim to transform the lending ecosystem for banks to accurately assess credit risk. 

The post Aion Digital and Qarar partner to transform credit markets in ME appeared first on International Finance.

Emirates NBD will be able to focus on its core markets by leveraging LiquidX’s platform, Emirates NBD being a leading bank in the MENA region. The partnership will enable LiquidX to expand its presence into the Middle East to boost trade connectivity between Asia and the Middle East. 

The LiquidX network comprises corporations, banks and non-bank financial institutions. It is the largest  electronic marketplace for the exchange of trade finance assets. 

Last year, Emirates NBD successfully completed an accounts receivables transaction for one of its clients on the LiquidX network. It was the bank’s first transaction on the platform. It is reported that the transaction was between a major crude oil producer from the Middle East and a Singaporean global commodity trader. 

Jim Toffey, CEO of LiquidX, told the media that, “Emirates NBD is a market leader in digital trade finance and share our commitment to transforming the industry. We aim to be the fintech partner of choice for global banks and this partnership with Emirates NBD is a great example of how we can work with banks to expand their digital working capital solutions.”

Last December, LiquidX launched its Supply Chain Finance (SCF) programme demonstrating the company’s onboarding and execution capabilities globally. 

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The decision to grant them digital banking licences by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) will depend on the value proposition the proposed Saudi Arabian digital banks bring to Saudi Arabia’s banking sector.
Yazeed Alsheikh, director for general of banking control at the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority recently confirmed the same to the local media.

The names of the two applicants are not yet known.

Last week, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) issued new digital banking guidelines to be followed by digital banking players in Saudi Arabia.

According to the central bank, the digital banking guidelines of Saudi Arabia complement its banking licencing guidelines and minimum criteria.

These new digital banking guidelines issued by Saudi Arabia must be considered as additional conditions to be met along with the licensing guidelines for conventional banks, according to SAMA.

In a statement, SAMA said, “The additional guidelines are to keep up with the developments in the financial and information technology sectors and to achieve the objectives of the Financial Sector Development Program (FSDP) and Saudi Vision 2030 by developing the digital economy.”

Last year, the central bank started processing applicants for three new banking licences in the kingdom. Reportedly, two of the new licences were for traditional banks and one for a digital bank.

Recently, SAMA granted a licence to BayanPay-a network brand of Finablr, to provide payment services in the country. Finablr is a Saudi Arabia-based global platform for payments and foreign exchange solutions.

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NCB and Riyadh Bank, however, did not mention a reason for their decision to stop the merger talks. Reportedly, the two banks failed to agree on a valuation.

“The boards of both banks have decided to end preliminary merger talks and not to continue with the merger study,” the two banks said in separate stock exchange filings.

The merger between NCB, which is Saudi Arabia’s biggest bank in terms of assets, and Riyadh Bank, the fourth largest in the kingdom, would have created a new entity with $183 billion in assets.

As of September 2019, NCB’s total assets stood at $133 billion. The merger deal with Riyadh Bank would have bolstered the lender’s position as the top bank in Saudi Arabia, ahead of its closest rival Al Rajhi Bank.

Both NCB and Riyadh Bank have a common shareholder in sovereign fund Public Investment Fund (PIF). The sovereign fund holds a 44 percent stake in NCB and a 22 percent stake in Riyadh Bank.

Consolidation has increased in the region in the past two years due to lower profit margins which are a result of lower consumer spending in the face of weak oil prices.

In June, Saudi British Bank (SABB) and its smaller rival Alawwal Bank completed a merger deal to create the kingdom’s third-biggest lender

Last month, NCB and MasterCard entered into a partnership to roll out a suite of card-based payment products and collaborate to develop and deliver advanced technology solutions for NCB customers.

The post Saudi Arabia’s NCB and Riyadh Bank end merger talks appeared first on International Finance.

The NBB said in a statement that the consideration of the offer is either in cash of $0.31 per share or through a share-swap deal with a share exchange ratio of 0.167 NBB shares per Bahrain Islamic Bank shares.

The offer is subject to a minimum acquisition of 40.94 percent, which would take NBB’s total stake in Bahrain Islamic Bank up to 70 percent.

The deal to buy Bahrain Islamic Bank is expected to cost NBB around $329 million.

In the statement, NBB also said, “Bahrain Islamic Bank shareholders are notified that NBB is a conventional retail financial institution and as such the new shares in NBB offered as an alternative to the cash offer are not a Shariah-compliant investment.”

Currently, NBB, which is the second-largest bank in Bahrain with a market share of 27.94 percent, is the second-largest shareholder with a 29.06 percent stake in Bahrain Islamic Bank. While the Saudi Arabia-based Islamic Development Bank owns a 14.42 percent stake in Bahrain Islamic Bank, the General Council of Kuwaiti Awqaf holds a 7.18 percent stake.

NBB, which was also the first indigenous bank of Bahrain, first expressed interest in Bahrain Islamic Bank back in October 2018. Earlier in July this year, the bank again announced that it had re-initiated talks with the Islamic lender.

During the same period, NBB chief executive Jean-Christophe Durand revealed the bank’s plan to increase the number of branches in the UAE and Saudi Arabia and is looking to double the size of its debt capital market and advisory business to $10 billion.

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