Tuesday 21 October 2014

Commercial Bank Of Kuwait Slashes Bad Loans As Settlements Reached - Gulf Business

Commercial Bank Of Kuwait Slashes Bad Loans As Settlements Reached - Gulf Business:



"Commercial Bank of Kuwait (CBK), the Gulf state’s fifth-largest lender by assets, has reached a string of debt settlements with clients that have helped to slash its non-performing loans, the bank’s acting chief executive said.



Kuwaiti investment companies were hit hard by the global financial crisis in 2008-2009 and many were forced to enter debt restructuring talks. This has pressured Kuwait’s banking sector over the last several years.



CBK’s success in reaching debt settlements with such firms suggests the banking sector is now leaving that problem behind."



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Russia's Gas Monopoly Is Over | Opinion | The Moscow Times

Russia's Gas Monopoly Is Over | Opinion | The Moscow Times:



"The position of Russian natural gas in Central and Eastern Europe seems unshakeable: 100 percent market share in Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Belarus, 90 percent in Bulgaria, 80 percent in Hungary and Slovakia, and 60 percent in the Czech Republic, Poland and Ukraine. Yet these figures disguise crucial vulnerabilities. In the coming years, Russia's export volumes will remain high, even as its position in the European energy markets erodes. Often, discussion of the shale revolution's impact on Russia focuses on the prospect of American LNG displacing gas flowing through Russia's transcontinental pipelines.



Such analysis is misleading. Increasing global supplies damage Russian interests. It is important to remember that, as recently as 2005, projections favored the U.S. to become the largest net buyer of natural gas in the world. But in the years since, domestic production rose 34 percent, making the country functionally independent of offshore suppliers.



The closure of the U.S. LNG import market is forcing producers in the Middle East and Africa to look for customers elsewhere. This exerts downward pressure on prices and is making LNG from all sources more economical for European consumers."



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Hong Kong And Abu Dhabi Investors Want To Buy Reebok From Adidas

Hong Kong And Abu Dhabi Investors Want To Buy Reebok From Adidas:



"A group of investors from Hong Kong and Abu Dhabi plan to offer about 1.7 billion euros ($2.2 billion) to buy Reebok from Adidas AG, which acquired the company eight years ago but has since lost market share to Nike Inc.



Jynwel Capital, the investment vehicle of the billionaire Low family of Asia, and funds affiliated with the government of Abu Dhabi plan to send a letter to Adidas directors with the offer, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. The two investment groups are expected to argue that Reebok would operate better independently.



Representatives for Adidas and Jynwel Capital declined to comment on the speculation, according to Bloomberg."



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Emerging markets jittery as UAE bourses back in the red | The National

Emerging markets jittery as UAE bourses back in the red | The National:



"UAE bourses fell on Monday as worldwide stock market jitters continued to hit emerging markets.



The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange fell 1.54 per cent, while the Dubai Financial Market fell 0.95 per cent. Thirty-day volatility on both bourses reached its highest level since Arabtec’s crash in June this year.



Price fluctuations savaged global markets for most of last week after the IMF downgraded its global economic growth forecasts and central banks offered mixed messages on interest rate rises and quantitative easing."



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First Gulf Bank plans bond issue, to establish China office | GulfNews.com

First Gulf Bank plans bond issue, to establish China office | GulfNews.com:



"First Gulf Bank, the second largest lender by market capitalisation in the UAE, plans to make a benchmark foreign currency bond issue in the next 12 months, chief executive Andre Sayegh said on Monday.



“There will be a bond issuance in the coming 12 months. It is for balance sheet management,” Sayegh told reporters.



He also said the bank expected to post double-digit loan growth in the next 12 months. “Loan growth is picking up and some major projects are coming up.” Sayegh said FGB aimed to open a representative office in China in the coming 12 months. The office is expected eventually to be upgraded to a branch, he added."



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Emirates airline growth to slow amid airport capacity constraints | GulfNews.com

Emirates airline growth to slow amid airport capacity constraints | GulfNews.com:



"Emirates airline’s growth will slow until the end of the decade as the Dubai government invests billions of dollars in further developing the emirate as a global aviation hub.



“The expansion plan we have over the next seven years is going be a lot less [than recent years],” Anand Lakshminarayanan, Divisional Vice-President for Route Planning at Emirates airline, said on Monday.



Lakshminarayanan declined to state what growth the airline will be targeting."



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ETFs Lag $2.3 Trillion Market as Options Scarce: Islamic Finance - Bloomberg

ETFs Lag $2.3 Trillion Market as Options Scarce: Islamic Finance - Bloomberg:



"Almost a decade since the Islamic world’s first exchange-traded fund started operating, assets account for less than one percent of the total $2.3 trillion ETF market, according to Falah Capital LLC.



The U.S. fund manager set up its inaugural Shariah-compliant ETF this month as it seeks to tap growth in Islamic banking assets. Investment products conforming to Koranic principles that pool mainly stocks, bonds or commodities into single share units amount to $11.6 billion, Thom Polson, chief executive officer at Seattle-based Falah Capital, said in an Oct. 18 e-mail.



“The absence of such a major investment vehicle is surely a deficiency for Islamic investors,” Resat Karabiyik, managing director at Istanbul-based Bizim Menkul Degerler AS, which pioneered Shariah-type ETFs in 2006, said in an Oct. 17 e-mail. “Since their first inception, ETFs have become one of the major globally accepted investment vehicles that suit both institutional and individual investors.”"



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Iran Shuns Image as OPEC Hawk While Seeking Sanctions End - Bloomberg

Iran Shuns Image as OPEC Hawk While Seeking Sanctions End - Bloomberg:



"Iran, eager for an end to sanctions that have restricted its oil exports, is shunning its image as OPEC’s price hawk by avoiding calls for an emergency session of the group to support prices.



Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh consulted with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani about political and economic reasons for the price collapse, the ministry’s news website Shana reported yesterday. No emergency meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is necessary to discuss the slide, Shana said. Rouhani told Zanganeh to use the “oil diplomacy tool” to try to prevent a further decrease, the state-run Mehr news agency said Oct. 19, without elaborating.



“They have their wings clipped a bit at the moment because they can’t really produce any more than they do,” Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank A/S, said in an interview in Dubai yesterday. “It’s difficult for them to call for any strict action when they know that when sanctions are lifted, they’re the ones that are going to ramp up production.”"



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