News

Bloomberg The fallout from Covid-19 is hurting the financial wellbeing of Greek and Romanian consumers the most in Europe, while those in Scandinavia are least affected. Swedish debt collector Intrum AB surveyed European consumers on their financial security and nearly half of the respondents said their wellbeing has declined today compared with six months ago. “The survey clearly shows that ...

Bloomberg The UK government’s pandemic programs are now supporting 11.5 million jobs at a cost of 27 billion pounds ($34 billion), according to figures released on Tuesday. Meanwhile, separate data from the Department of Work and Pensions showed the number of individuals making declarations for Universal Credit benefit claims fell to 96,510 in the week of May 25, the first ...

Bloomberg The euro has carved out a dominant position in the fast-growing market for green-bond financing, accounting for almost half of all new issuances last year, according to the European Central Bank (ECB). The development dovetails with European Union ambitions to make the continent the first climate-neutral region by 2050. ECB President Christine Lagarde has promised to reflect on how ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The net foreign assets held by the UAE national banks grew 17.5 percent to AED79.8 billion during the first fourth months of this year as compared to December 2019, statistics by the central bank of the UAE shows. The growth stems from the increase in the total balance of foreign assets of these banks to AED684.8 ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The value of Abu Dhabi trading in precious metals and gemstone increased to AED5.42 billion within the first quarter of the current year 2020 with a rate of 34.4 percent compared to the same interval of 2019 estimated at AED4.03 billion according to Abu Dhabi General Administration of Customs. Such increase in Abu Dhabi trading in ...

ABU DHABI / WAM First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) has successfully issued a landmark HKD750 million five-year Green Bond through a private placement. In a statement by the bank on Monday, this deal represents the first Green Bond issuance by a Mena issuer denominated in Hong Kong Dollars (HKD) and the first Green Bond in HKD by an offshore financial ...

Abu Dhabi / WAM Upbeat sentiments triggered by improved performance across all global stock markets saw UAE’s twin bourses’ general indices surging and gaining to the tune of AED16.4 billion at the close of Sunday’s session. The growth was spurred by a buying spree that selectively targeted blue chips and generated AED800 million in liquidity over 537 million shares through ...

SHARJAH / WAM Sharjah Media City, known as Shams, and Mashreq Bank, one of the leading financial institutions in the UAE, have announced a strategic partnership to boost entrepreneurship and support business owners in Sharjah. The two entities signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will solidify this collaboration and enable Shams to leverage Mashreq’s banking expertise. “As part of ...

Bloomberg Oil rose to trade near $43 a barrel in London after Opec and its allies agreed to extend historic output curbs by an extra month, promising stricter compliance to ensure members don’t pump more than they pledged. Brent futures added as much as 2.6% after posting a sixth weekly increase on Friday, the longest run of gains since May ...

Abu Dhabi / WAM The e-commerce business sector was issued the highest number of licences in the UAE in May. Data from the National Economic Register, in coordination with relevant economic authorities, showed that 196 licences were issued for e-commerce retail businesses in May. The first five months of the year saw a 300 percent increase in consumer demand for ...