Bloomberg Saudi Arabia’s net foreign assets dropped below $500 billion in April for the first time since 2011 even after the kingdom raised $9 billion from its first international sale of Islamic bonds. The Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority, as the central bank is known, said its net foreign assets fell by $8.5 billion from the previous month to about $493 …

Bloomberg Saudi Arabia could attract tens of billions of dollars in foreign investments in the Arab world’s biggest stock market if it’s added to MSCI Inc.’s emerging-markets index, according to Deutsche Bank AG’s chief executive officer for the Middle East and Africa. Our “research anticipates a figure of up to $35 billion of inflows,” Dubai-based Jamal Al Kishi said in …

Bloomberg Kuwait Finance House KSCP is in talks to buy Bahrain’s Ahli United Bank BSC, a person familiar with the matter said, in a deal that would create one of the Middle East’s largest Islamic lenders with about $85 billion of assets. KFH, as the lender is known, started discussions to acquire the Bahraini lender as well as its operations …

Bloomberg Indonesia’s central bank said economic growth of 5.4 percent this year is too optimistic and the nation should aspire for higher credit ratings to catch up with Southeast Asian peers. “In our view, the 2017 growth rate should be higher than 2016,” Bank Indonesia Senior Deputy Governor Mirza Adityaswara said in an interview in Jakarta. “Maybe 5.4 percent is …

Dubai / emirates business Noor Bank on Monday announced that it has become the first bank in the UAE to implement the Dubai font across internal platforms. Employees of the bank will apply the iconic font to all documents created in Microsoft Office programmes. The transition from Arial to the Dubai font is in line with Noor Bank’s vision of …

Bloomberg Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary John Kelly said he may ban laptop computers in the cabins of all international flights into and out of the US amid continuing terrorist threats to bring down airplanes, but that a final decision hadn’t been made. “That’s really the thing that they’re obsessed with, the terrorists: the idea of knocking down an …

Bloomberg BITPoint Japan Co., the company behind Peach Aviation Ltd.’s move to let travellers use bitcoin to pay for tickets, is planning to give hundreds of thousands of Japanese retail outlets the ability to accept the digital currency. “We’re holding discussions with a retail-related company,” Genki Oda, BITPoint’s president, said in a recent interview. “By going through a company providing …

Bloomberg Target Corp. is investing $75 million in online mattress seller Casper Sleep Inc., according to a person familiar with the situation, part of a bid to boost its e-commerce presence while brick-and-mortar sales decline. Target made the funding deal after considering a bid for the entire business, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations …

Emirates Business Ya Halla! Everyone’s favourite Arab emoji app is back with a special Ramadan Pack of emoji stickers and gifs to keep your spirits well and truly up during the holy month. From sesame dates to suhoor, Halla Walla’s new range lets you share the Ramadan experience with friends and family in a fun and exciting way. Since launching, …

Bloomberg British Airways’ flight schedule is slowly recovering as the carrier digs out of a massive computer failure that stranded thousands of passengers worldwide over the weekend and cast doubts on Chief Executive Officer Alex Cruz’s aggressive cost-cutting strategy. The UK carrier cancelled 50 flights, or about 6 percent of the total 852 scheduled, to and from its main London …