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Dubai / Emirates Business Emirates Islamic announced the launch of chat banking services for customers via WhatsApp, marking a global first in the Islamic banking sector. The bank’s customers will now able to conduct daily banking activities via WhatsApp in a seamless and hassle-free manner. The Chat Banking solution, supported by Infobip, further enhances Emirates Islamic’s suite of digital banking …

Bloomberg Etihad Airways PJSC is seeking a loan of about $600 million to help make initial payments for planes, according to people familiar with the matter. Abu Dhabi’s state-owned carrier is arranging the loan on its own and has reached out to banks that may be willing to provide the unsecured facility with maturity of one or two years, said …

Bloomberg Dubai Islamic Bank PJSC, the United Arab Emirates’ biggest Islamic lender, is considering buying Noor Bank PJSC, people with knowledge of the talks said. The bank has held preliminary discussions with Dubai-based Noor Bank’s shareho- lders, said the people, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Discussions are at an early stage and may not lead …

DUBAI / Emirates Business The UAE’s non-oil private sector has maintained a solid monthly improvement, according to the latest Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) issued by Emirates NBD. The improvement in business conditions reflected sharper increases in output, new orders and stocks of purchases, as well as a return to job creation. These all in some way were linked to anecdotal …

Dubai / WAM Start-ups and other young companies can provide around 50 percent of all new job prospects in the market at the seed stage and those operating for two and a half years hiring an average of 12 workers. Several reports reveal that start-ups generate significant employment opportunities globally, helping drive immense economic growth prospects. The role of start-ups …

Bloomberg Boeing Co is cutting production of its 737 jetliner for the first time since the September 11 attacks as the planemaker works to limit financial damage from the global grounding of its newest and best-selling aircraft model. By slashing output 19 percent — to 42 airplanes a month by mid-April — Boeing will be able to reduce its spending …

DUBAI / WAM The smart city concept has the potential to boost the economic development of global cities by over five percent and deliver at least $20 trillion in additional economic benefits by 2026, reveals a a report titled “Role of Smart Cities for Economic Development.” The numbers were released as discussions on the economic impact of smart cities have …

Bloomberg The market power of corporations is rising across rich economies and could eat into economic growth if the trend intensifies, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said. Corporate market power increased moderately between 2000 and 2015, with price markups increasing by 8 percent, the IMF said in an analysis accompanying its latest World Economic Outlook. The increase was concentrated outside …

Bloomberg Oil rose near $70 a barrel in London, a level last breached in November, as global crude supplies tightened while hopes for an end to the US-China trade impasse lifted financial markets. Brent crude’s rapid recovery this year — with the biggest quarterly gain in almost a decade — is a victory for the production cuts made by Opec …

GENEVA / WAM World trade will continue to face strong headwinds in 2019 and 2020 after growing more slowly than expected in 2018 due to rising trade tensions and increased economic uncertainty. World Trade Organisation (WTO) economists expect merchandise trade volume growth to fall to 2.6% in 2019 down from 3.0% in 2018. Trade growth could then rebound to 3.0% …