Issue 11 September / October 2011

Letter from the editorial director

Dear Reader, In this issue, we introduce readers to Sundra Rajoo, “a man with a mission”. As director of the Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration (KLRCA), he has been mandated by Bank Negara Malaysia, the central bank, to promote arbitration in Islamic finance both in the region and beyond. Rajoo would like to see more countries from the MENA …

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HSBC to be key partner in ITFC’S trade operations

HSBC has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Islamic Development Bank’s International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) to implement its Shariah-compliant trade financing and provide help on various treasury activities such as joint trade financing and investment of liquidity.

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‘Mixed market outlook’ in GCC

Quite apart from the growing risks evident in the global economy, the regional turmoil known as the “Arab Spring” resulted in sharp stock market corrections and an extreme dearth of new issuance activity in the equity, bond, and sukuk markets alike, NCB said in its report GCC Financial Market Quarterly: Back to Square One.

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New software deal

Arab Financial Services (AFS), a leading provider of electronic payments and consumer finance outsourcing services in the Middle East, has recently announced the renewal of its VisionPLUS licence agreement with First Data, a global leader in electronic commerce and payment solutions.

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New top appointment at Citi

Naveed Sultan has been appointed global head of treasury and trade solutions at Citi, reporting to global transaction services (GTS) CEO Francesco Vanni d’Archirafi. He will manage Citi’s cash management and trade services business with reported revenues of $7.2bn in 2010.

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UAE banks safe from US setback

The historic credit downgrading of the United States, the world’s largest economy, will have no impact on UAE banks as they have no investment in US securities, according to Hammam Al Shamma, an adviser at the Abu Dhabi-based Al Fajr Securities, one of the UAE’s largest stocks and investment services firms.

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Bid to combat virus attacks

A seminar to discuss ways of combating viruses that target financial institutions was held recently in Dubai, having been organised by the UAE Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), represented by the Computer Emergency Response Team (AECERT). TRA is making efforts to provide a secure cyber space for users in the UAE, and protect them from potential attacks. The AECERT team plays …

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Man at the top

Dominic Broom has been appointed head of sales and relationship management for BNY Mellon Treasury Services, Europe, Middle East and Africa. He reports to Alan Verschoyle-King, head of global sales and client management for BNY Mellon Treasury Services. Broom joined BNY Mellon Treasury Services as head of market development EMEA in 2006. He has many years of experience in the …

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Bank’s ‘magic touch’ is designing the right solution

Continued commitment to its customers, together with greater investment and product offering, have led to BBK in Bahrain winning two prestigious awards this year. In this interview, Cash & Trade talks to Rashad Akbari, Assistant General Manager of the Transactional Banking Division  What does BBK offer the Bahraini market in terms of cash management services? We provide the valuable combination …

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The battle over short-term finance

SMEs are having a hard time of it because of the financial crisis and credit squeeze. LIZ SALECKA looks at their problems in accessing short-term bank finance Across the Gulf States, the financial crisis and resulting credit squeeze have had major implications for mid-market companies and small-to-medium sized (SME) family-owned businesses, which have since found it much harder to access …

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Arbitration: the ‘Bench mark’ for disputes?

MUSHTAK PARKER reports on 
a ‘man with a mission’, whose aim is to promote arbitration Sundra Rajoo is a man with a mission. As director of the Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration (KLRCA) he has been mandated by Bank Negara Malaysia, the central bank, to promote arbitration in Islamic finance both in the region and beyond. Consistent with the …

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Prevention is better than cure

Optimum liquidity and working-capital management is crucial to the long and short-term success of any commercial enterprise. However, it is dependent on businesses being prepared for all eventualities. MICHAEL BURKIE discusses why corporates must plan for even the most unlikely market disruption scenarios, as well as how local and regional banks can help their corporate clients to be prepared Funding …

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Manama is pivotal base for banking

Although this has been a difficult year for Bahrain, its banking industry has gone to great lengths to maintain reliable and competitive service. As PAUL MELLY reports, the country has commerce weaved into its culture. Lacking the oil and gas wealth of its neighbours, save in modest quantities, Bahrain has had to build its modern prosperity through industry and, above …

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Trade finance: NBAD holds on to its lead

Tajara Monitor is in the process of broadening its coverage to include the other GCC countries in addition to the KSA, which CMM has published now for two years. In this edition, we look at some of the UAE Tajara findings in relation to trade finance. The UAE is the second biggest trading nation within the GCC. The 2010 report …

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The right choices to overcome challenges

In the wake of the financial crisis, companies in the Middle East are starting to look at ways to streamline their business processes. Treasurers have various tools at their disposal for building efficient liquidity management processes. However, there are challenges that need to be overcome to achieve maximum visibility and mobility of funds. Treasurers need to select cash management providers …

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