Dubai in March launched Mirsal2, a comprehensive electronic Customs declaration system that facilitates legitimate trade movement. It accelerates business procedures and advances quality service delivery standards. Dubai Customs developed Mirsal2 in-house over a period of two years. It was designed in line with client and strategic stakeholder needs. It aims to further service delivery standards, reinforce cooperation with partners and …

eastNets, a provider of compliance and payments solutions, has again been awarded the swiftready services label after passing the renewal criteria for 2010. The certification validates eastNets’ capability to perform implementation, integration and upgrade services in 2010 for SWIFT products and solutions that include alliance access, alliance entry, alliance starter set, alliance rMa, alliance Gateway, alliance Webstation, CCI screenflow over …

dubai Gold & Commodities exchange (dGCX) recorded a 133 per cent rise in volume in the first quarter of 2010, with 495,059 futures contracts traded, valued at $29.6m. Volume in the January-March period rose on the back of strong demand for currencies, gold and WTI crude oil futures, which recorded volumes of 361,760, 112,077 and 13,457 contracts respectively. Volumes in …

In March the National Bank of Kuwait (NBK), the highest rated in the Middle East, hosted a first-of-its-kind meeting with a high level Turkish business delegation. Shaikha Al Bahar, the bank’s deputy CEO, said that the initiative and decision for such a gathering was taken by both H.H. the Amir, Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah and H.E. …

HS BC hosted more than 150 fund managers, investors and bankers at a conference in Dubai in March. The audience came from all over the world to hear HS BC’s top team of global and regional economists and analysts discuss and debate the future with traders and bankers.  The message that emerging markets’ growth will outpace mature markets came across …

The UK’s Baring Asset Management is launching a new fund targeting the Middle East and North Africa now that previously strict rules governing foreign investment and ownership in many of those markets are being relaxed. Barings, which has €31.8bn under management and almost half of this figure invested in emerging markets, opened its MENA fund to new investors in March. …

March 2010 was “the month of the emerging markets”. Both the Dow Jones Islamic Market Index (DJIM) series and the conventional Dow Jones indexes saw composites from the Middle East and East Asia on the rise.After a humble 2010 debut, the Dow Jones Dubai Financial Market (DFM) Titans 10 Index was boosted by hearing that Dubai’s stateowned conglomerate Dubai World …

Al Hilal Bank is establishing its first operation outside the UAE . In March Kazakhstan’s Financial Markets Authority granted it an official licence to open the first Islamic bank in the country. The main headquarters are being established in the city of Almaty with a second branch in Astana, the capital. With a population of nearly 16 million, Kazakhstan possesses …

The International Islamic Financial Market (IIFM), the Bahrain-based organisation seeking to set standards for Islamic securities, may issue new global guidelines to facilitate the sale of Shariahcompliant bonds.  “There is no one, crossborder, common benchmark for sukuk,” IIFM’s chief executive officer Ijlal Ahmed Alvi said in March. “When there is a problem or a restructuring possibility, there is no precedent.” …

There may be little pick-up for some Gulf banks in 2010 following a bleak fiscal year in 2009 in which Kuwait saw the only increase in net profits in the region, at 70 per cent, while Bahrain’s banking sector posted the biggest decline, 35.23 per cent. Shuaa Capital, the UAE ’s largest investment bank, said in its UAE Vision 2010 …

The launch and listing of the first Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) in the Gulf region took place in March thanks to the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD ) and Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX).  The new fund, NBAD OneShare Dow Jones UAE 25 ETF, will follow the performance of the “Dow Jones UAE 25 Total Return Index” and provide …

Corporate treasurers around the world are still feeling quite bullish about 2010. That was just one of many findings about the health of the global business environment revealed in a quarterly business confidence survey from EuroFinance.  Among the key findings reported were:  The treasurers’ agenda is now changing. Immediately after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, “counterparty risk” was corporate treasurers’ …

Dear Reader,  One thing showing up very clearly in the crystal ball of commerce – affecting transaction banking in particular – is that the face of global trade is changing.  As we report in this issue, more than 150 fund managers, investors and bankers attended an HSBC conference in Dubai in March to hear global and regional economists and analysts …

The future of cash management points towards integrated management dashboards, says Maki Vekinis – Cash Management Matters (CMM) Managing Partner, The advent of the sophisticated business performance monitoring tools, resulting from the adoption of sophisticated enterprise resource planning (ERP) platforms is slowly making its way into the corporate internet banking systems. The emerging trend, sometimes referred to as integrated cash management …

John Foster speaks to RAJ GUPTA, RESEARCHDIRECTOR OF THE CENTRE FOR INTERNATIONAL SECURITIES AND DERVATIVE MARKETS.  The global financial crisis has turned the previously cosy, stable and processorientated world of treasury management on its head. In the past, tried and tested practices, relationships and technologies were passed from generation to generation of CFOs and treasury managers, and the industry evolved …

Making the  right decesion when choosing a cash management platform is no easy task, expains Maki Vekinis – Cash Management Matters (CMM) Managing Partner www.cashmanagementmatters.com Is there a bullet-proof way to identify a cash management platform vendor? here is a banker’s perspective and some important practical pointers. The ever-increasing competition among banks of all sizes to enhance revenue streams without exercising …