Bloomberg HSBC Holdings Plc and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc’s Saudi Arabia ventures are exploring a potential merger to create the kingdom’s third-largest lender with $78 billion in assets. Alawwal Bank, which is 40 percent owned by RBS, plans to start initial talks with HSBC’s Saudi British Bank, according to a statement on Saudi stock exchange website. Both ...

  Bloomberg Standard Chartered Plc’s return to its roots as a trade bank is bearing fruit. The bank’s shares jumped as much as 5 percent as first-quarter profit topped estimates, fuelled by the biggest increase in transaction banking revenue in more than three years. The lender said it would consider reinstating its dividend next quarter. Chief Executive Officer Bill Winters ...

  Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG named Mike Weir to run par loan trading in the U.S., replacing an executive who joined Credit Suisse Group AG this year, according to a person familiar with the matter. Weir, an employee at the German bank since 2014, succeeds Mike Eilert, the person said, asking not to be named because the appointment hasn’t been ...

  Dubai / WAM Dubai is poised as the first Arab city to lead the region at par with top global players and ranked fifth on the list of the world’s most competitive and attractive maritime clusters, according to an international survey conducted by Menon Business Economics Group, the globally renowned organisation for benchmarking leading maritime capitals of the world. The ...

  Dubai / WAM Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, (DTCM) Dubai Tourism, announced the launch of “Dubai Expert,” an innovative online educational game created exclusively for travel agents. The announcement was made to travel professionals attending this year’s Arabian Travel Market in Dubai. Created in collaboration with the Dubai College of Tourism (DCT) and KTM Advance, a specialist in e-learning, ...

  Abu Dhabi / WAM The Emirates Red Crescent received a donation of AED3 million from the Emirates Islamic Bank in response to the humanitarian agency’s ‘For You, Somalia’ campaign, launched to raise funds to help people suffering from famine and drought in the Horn of Africa country. The charity telethon was launched earlier this month by the Emirates Red Crescent ...

  Dubai / WAM The General Department of Organisations Protective Security and Emergency (OPSE), Event’s Security Committee is participating in the inaugural edition of the Major Events Safety and Security Summit (ME3S), organised by Reed Exhibitions, in collaboration with Major Events International (MEI). The two-day summit is the first-of-its-kind ‘community experience’ summit that addresses safety and security challenges specific to major ...

  ABU DHABI / WAM Abu Dhabi Ports, the master developer, operator and manager of the Emirate’s commercial and community ports as well as Khalifa Industrial Zone (KIZAD, has announced the launch of the Khalifa Port Free Trade Zone (KPFTZ) the largest free zone area in the Middle East, to the European market at the Hannover Messe exhibition in Germany. ...

  DUBAI / WAM Passenger traffic at Dubai World Central (DWC), Dubai’s second international hub, grew an impressive 29.5 percent during the first quarter of 2017 with 333,780 passengers passing through the facility compared to 257,813 in the same period in 2016 according to Dubai Airports, which also released its 2017 forecast for DWC passenger numbers. Commenting on the announcement, ...

  DUBAI / WAM The country’s first solar-powered gas station has been opened by the Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC), in yet a new sign reflecting the country’s increased focus on maintaining the highest standards of sustainability and clean energy. The service station lies on the city’s main Sheikh Zayed Road thoroughfare and is covered with solar panels that can generate ...