Banking

Hong Kong / AP Asia-focused bank Standard Chartered said on Tuesday it swung to a surprise $2.36 billion net loss in 2015 against a backdrop of global market volatility, restructuring costs and bad loans. Chairman John Peace described the performance as “poor” in what he called a watershed year, which saw the company announce it would axe 15,000 jobs under ...

Riyadh / Emirates Business As high as 38 percent of KSA respondents would recommend their bank as a first choice to friends or colleagues according to the first ever NPS Survey conducted in the Kingdom by Souqalmal.com , KSA’s #1 financial comparison website. Respondents were asked to evaluate various aspects of the overall banking experience. The parameters covered customer service, ...

Frankfurt / AP Deutsche Bank says it has completed a buyback of euro-denominated bonds aimed at demonstrating its financial strength after violent swings in the bank’s share price. The bank said investors had offered to sell only 1.75 billion euros ($1.92 billion) worth of bonds under the bank’s bid to repurchase 3 billion euros of them. Of that, Deutsche Bank ...

Jeddah / Emirates Business The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), a member of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group, signed a US$75 million Syndicated Murabaha Financing agreement on Sunday, with the Government of Senegal, with Suneor (the major player in the Senegalese groundnut sector) as Executing Agency. . The signing ceremony took place at the headquarters of the ITFC ...

Colombo / AFP The Asian Development Bank on Tuesday announced over $2.0 billion in loans and equity to Sri Lanka, which is in negotiations with the International Monetary Fund for a bailout. ADB president Takehiko Nakao said the money would be used to finance expressways, railways, power generation and education. It covers 2016 through 2018 and compares with $1.5 billion ...

Manama / Emirates Business The 5th Euromoney GCC Financial Forum, co-hosted by Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB), kicked off on Tuesday on a high note at Four Seasons Hotel, Kingdom of Bahrain, with an interactive format to encourage delegate participation. More than 500 leading international and regional financial experts from finance, investment, government, regulatory organisations, businesses and members of the ...

Bahrain / Emirates Business BisB announced that it has achieved positive financial results which reflect on the continuous improvement on the Bank’s position. The Bank has realized BD 11.2 million as net profit for the year ended on 31st December 2015, compared to BD 9.3 million for the previous year, an increase of 20%. The Bank has registered net profit ...

Jeddah / Emirates Business Deutsche Bank announced the appointment of Jamal Al Kishi as Chief Executive Officer, Middle East and Africa with immediate effect, replacing Ashok Aram who as previously announced is relocating to Frankfurt as Chief Executive Officer Europe, Middle East and Africa (excluding Germany and the UK). Al Kishi, subject to regulatory approvals, will remain Chief Executive Officer ...

BLOOMBERG Bank of Ireland plans to return to paying dividends next year for the first time since the financial crisis after profit at the nation’s largest lender by assets rose 30 percent in 2015. Underlying pretax profit, excluding items such as restructuring costs, rose to 1.2 billion euros ($1.33 billion) from 921 million euros a year earlier, the bank said ...

Manama / Emirates Business The Bahrain-based leading Islamic banking group, Al Baraka Banking Group B.S.C (ABG), announced that its total operating income reached one billion dollars in 2015 for the first time since the start of the Group activities 12 years ago due to continued growth in income-generated business at all the Group units, while the net income for the ...